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m* 

"H 

IMPROVEMENT 


)" 


Vol.  XV. 


MARCH,  1912 


No.  5 


ORGAN  OF  THE  PRTESTH-OOD    QUORUMS, 
THE  YOUNG  MENS  MUTUAL    IMPROVEMENT 
ASSOCIATION  AND  THE    5CHOOU5      OF  THE 
CHURCH  OF  JE.5U5  CHRIST  OF  LATTER-DAY  SAINTS. 

PUBLISHED  MONTHLY  BY  THE 
GENERAL  BOARD  AT  SALT  LAKE    CITY,  UTAH. 


X 


BEFORE  THE  SMOKE 

CLEARS  AWAY 
Cn  your  fire-stricken  shop,  factory, 
of  ice  or  store,  you  can  resume"  busi- 
ness if  insured  with  us.  No  long 
unnecessary  delays  In  adjusting,  no 
haggling  over  terms;  but  prompt  pay- 
mont  of  losses  every  time.  It's  to  our 
imeiest  to  get  you  set  up  in  business 
h gain — we  can  insure  you  again. 

HOME  FIRE  INSURANCE  COMPANY  OF  UTAH 

Heber  J.  Grant  &  Go.  ™ 

20-26  So/Main  St.         Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 


BOTH  PHONES  351 

Jos.  Wm.  Taylor 

Utah's  Leading  Undertaker 
and  Licensed  Embalmer. 


Fine  Funeral  Chapel,    Private 
Parlor,  Show  Rooms  and  Morgue 

OFPICE  OPEN  DAY  AND  NIGHT 

21,  23  and  25  South  West  Temple  St. 
SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH 


Established  18S9  Capital,  $200,000 

Utah  Commercial 
and  Savings  Bank 

A  01     Interest,  computed  semi-annually. 
•     lo  on  Savings  Deposits. 

Commercial  Banking  in  all  its 
branches.  Accounts  of  Banks  and' In- 
dividuals solicited.  Customers  assured 
the  best  accommodations  consistent 
vih  conservative  and  safe  banking. 
Wm.  F.  Armstrong^  Byron  Groo, 

President.  Cashier. 


Scenic  Line  ol 
the  World 


THROUGH  PULLMAN 

and 

TOURIST  SLEEPERS 

to 

DENVER 
EST.  LOUIS 
fand 
CHICAGOg 

For  Folders,  Booklets,  etc.  address 

I.  A.  BENTON,  G.  A.  P.  D., 

Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 


The 

State   Bank   of   Utah 

Salt  Lake  City,  Utah  Established  1890 

This  Bank  solicits  the  accounts 
of  banks,  firms  andindividuals,  and 
extends  to  such  customers  every 
reasonable  courtesy  and  facility. 

Joseph  F.     ""ih.  Pre.. 
Anthon  H.  J-Und,  V.Pre*. 


Cha«.  S.  Button.  Cathier 
H,T.  Met.  wan.  Asst.  Cath 


(When  writing  to  Advertisers,  please  mention  th*  ERA) 


Knitted  Garments 


Our  full  line  of  Spring  and  Summer  Garments  is 
now  ready.  They  are  made  of  the  very  best  selected 
cotton,  nicely  finished  throughout.  Your  order  promptly 
filled  for  any  size  desired. 


Be  Sure  to  Include  Postage  in  Remittance 


99A — Fine  weave,  light  weight, 
bleached;  for  warm  weather. 
Per"  pair,  postpaid 71c 

51 K — An  excellent  close  fine 
weave,  bleached;  suitable  for 
summer  wear.  Per  pair,  post- 
Paid $1.00 

59M — Made  of  mercerized  cotton, 
bleached;      very     desirable      for 

warm  weather.     Per  pair SI. 39 

Postage   14c  extra   per  pair. 

52B — Medium  light  weight  for 
spring    and     summer,     bleached. 

Per   pair    92c 

Postage   16c  extra   per   pair. 

54B — Unbleached,  light  weight, 
balbriggan    weave;    an   excellent 

garment.      Per    pair $1.00 

Postage   12c  extra   per  pair. 


57 — Medium  light  weight,  un- 
bleached, very  serviceable.     Per 

Pair    95c 

Postage    19c   extra    per   pair. 

901 — A  well  made,  durable  gar- 
ment, medium  heavy  weave,  un- 
bleached.     Per   pair $1.20 

Postage   20c   extra    per   pair. 

9B — Bleached,  medium  heavy 
weave;  will  give  excellent 
service.     Per  pair $1.30 

Postage  20c  extra    per  pair. 

111 — Heavy  cotton  weave,  tuck 
stitch,  unbleached,  fleeced.  Per 
Pa|r    $1.00 

Postage  20c  extra   per  pair. 


Important 


WHEN    ORDERING    BE    SURE    TO    GIVE    YOUR    BUST    AND    HEIGHT 
MEASUREMENTS,   AND   YOUR   WEIGHT. 

Samples  of  garment  material   gladly  sent  on   request. 
GARMENTS   MARKED    FOR  20c   EXTRA   PER    PAIR. 


Special 


WITH  EVERY  $2.00  ORDER  RECEIVED  DURING  MARCH  AND  APRIL 
WE  SEND,  ABSOLUTELY  FREE,  A  BEAUTIFUL  TEASPOON,  ROGER'S 
FRENCH  GREY  PATTERN,  MADE  OF  PURE  SILVER  AND  NICKEL. 


Call  at  the  Store  or  send  your  Orders  by  Mail. 

WesVs  Mail  Order  House 

New  Store,  258  South  State  St. 
Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 

(When  writing  to  Advertisers,  please  mention  the  ERA) 


"No   Crops— No    Payments' 

Consider  what  the  valley  offers:  Location — Practically  i.»  the  center  of  Box 
Elder  county,  within  a  few  miles  of  the  Southern  Pacific  station  at  Kelton.  and 
also  the  Salt  Lake  &  Idaho  railroad,  now  building  from  Burley,  Idaho,  to  the 
shores  of  Great  Salt  Lake.  Water — Plenty  of  the  clearest  and  purest  water  mav 
be  obtained  ai  a  depth  of  from  ten  to  fifty  feet;  some  gasoline  engine  mimping 
plants  have  been  installed  and  proved  successful.  The  rainfal!  in  Pa.iK  Valley 
Is  above  the  average  for  the  state — always  adequate  for  profitable  dry  farming. 
Soil — A  loose,  sandy  loam,  from  3  to  6  feet  deep — warm  and  abundantly  pro- 
ductive; it  is  easily  worked  and  is  of  such  texture  that  it  retains  the  moisture 
for  a  considerable  length  of  time.  Climate — The  air  is  dry.  pure  and  invigorating, 
affording  a  healthful,  energizing  climate.  The  mountains  keep  out  the  biting 
frosts  of  winter,  and  yet  afford  the  cooling  breezes  for  the  summer.  Vegetation 
thrives  and  crops  are  always  certain. 

You  should  understand  that  the  price  for  which  we  are  selling  the  land  will 
not  last  long — it  can't.  Developments  in  this  section  warrant  constantly  increas- 
ing valuations.  You  should  BUY  NOW.  The  company  will  assist  you  in  every 
way  possible,  and  the  men  on  the  company's  experiment  farm  in  the  valley  will 
give  you  the  advantage  of  their  experience  in  getting  water  and  growing  crops. 
Then  there  is  the  "Protection  Against  Forfeiture"  feature  of  our  contracts,  which 
protects  you  from  any  loss  whatsoever.  Have  you  ever  heard  of  a  fairer,  more 
attractive   proposition? 


$«00    BUYS    40    ACRES    of    land  in 

Park    Valley,    Utah — land    that    is  as 

fertile  and  productive  as  any  in 
these  mountain  states. 

$15      AN      ACRE — 5     YEARS      TIME. 

We  require  a  cash  payment  of  $3 
per  acre  at  time  of  purchase,  and 
the  balance  may  be  paid  in  five 
equal  annual  payments  of  $2.40  per 
acre.  Forty  acres  for  $600;  $120 
down  and  $96  each  year  for  five 
years. 


CUT  THIS  COUPON  AND  MAIL   IT  TODAY. 

Pacific  Land  &  Water  Co.,  816 
Newhouse  Building,  Salt  Lake  City, 
Utah.  Gentlemen:  Please  send  me 
illustrated  folder,  entitled,  "You 
Should  Build  Your  Home  in  Park 
Valley.   Utah."      I   am   interested. 

Name     

Address     

Be    sure    to    write    plainly. 


IF  CONVENIENT,  CALL  AT  OUR  OFFICE: 


Pacific  Land  &  Water  Co., 


Suite  816  Newhouse  Building 
SALT    LAKE    CITY,*aUTAH 


Means  that  we  provide  the  way  for  you  to  pay  for  the  land  that  we  have 
already  offered  to  you  at  a  remarkably  low  price. 

We  know  the  land  will  produce  abundant  crops,  and  we  are  willing  that 
you  should  use  the  land  to  prove  this  statement  to  your  own  satisfaction, 
before  making  full  and  complete  payments. 

We  want  settlers  in  PARK  VALLEY,  and  we're  willing  to  put  up  our 
lands  with  your  industry  and  labor,  in  order  that  you  may  own  a  home  in  this 
favored  spot,  and  pay  for  it  out  of  the  money  you  get  from  the  crops. 


BETTER  CROPS  FOR  1912 

This  is  what  the  Deseret  Farmer  stands  for  and  what  we  will  help  you  do. 

Make  two  blades  of  grass  grow  in  place  of  one. 

Select  your   seeds  and  the  results  will  surprise  you. 

Cultivate  and  care  better  for  your  soil. 

Irrigate  at  the  proper  time  and  with  the  right  amount. 

It  is  up  to  you — smile  and  work — results  will  follow. 

Our  aim  is  to  help  you,  expert  and  practical  men  will  tell  you  of 
experiments — new  ideas — and  how  others  are  succeeding,  by  progressive 
methods. 

Read  the  Deseret  Farmer  more  this  year — a  single  article  in  any 
issue  may  help  you  spell  P-R-O-F-I-T. 

Every  article — every  line — is  carefully  edited  and  written  for  the 
farmers  of  this  western  country — adapted  to  our  local  conditions. 

The  home  department  for  1912  will  be  better  than  ever — every 
farmer's  wife  should  read  these  articles. 

Sixteen  pages  every  week  in  the  year  for  only  $1.00.  Many  of  our 
subscribers  tell  us  they  get  one  dollar  value  out  of  a  single  issue. 

Special — For  a  while  longer  we  are  going  to  continue  to  give  six 
full  size  tea  spoons,  made  by  the  famous  Wm.  A.  Rogers  Co.  They  are 
the  genuine  Oxford  Silver  Plate,  a  beautiful  gift — a  useful  article  and 
one  of  merit. 

Six  Roses  Free.  We  will  give  six  roses,  grown  in  2y2  inch  pots  on 
their  own  roots,  selected  varieties,  from  one  of  the  oldest  and  largest 
nurseries  in  the  United  States.  We  guarantee  that  they  will  reach  you 
in  perfect  condition;  if  not,  they  will  be  replaced.  Will  mail  to  you  in 
sufficient  time  for  planting.  Six  Roses  and  the  Deseret  Farmer  'for  one 
year,  $1.00.     Send  subscription  in  now. 

j-Vhikhutahmgr-        DESERET    FARMER        lew,seAd,tmoerrrill' 


Annual  M.  I.  A.  Conferences  should  be  held  in  each  stake.  We  have  the 
permission  of  the  Presidency  of  the  Church  to  hold  officers  meetings  at  10  a.  m. 
and  general  meetings  at  2  and  in  the  evening.  Make  the  most  of  the  oppor- 
tunity. Get  your  best  stake  talent;  make  the  occasion  a  lively,  profitable, 
and  important  stake  affair.  Set  your  own  date  by  consulting  the  Stake  Presi- 
dency; show  your  best  ingenuity  and  initiative  in  arranging  a  program. 
Get  the  young  ladies  to  co-operate. 

The  Salt  Lake  Theatre  celebrates  its  fiftieth  anniversary  in  March  this 
year.  In  honor  of  the  occasion,  the  next  number  of  the  Era  will  have  an 
illustrated  article  on  the  subject  by  Alfred  Lambourne,  who  was  closely  con- 
nected with  the  famous  playhouse  in  its  early  days. 

An  M.  I.  A.  Day  is  the  topic  that  every  Stake  Y.  M.  M.  I.  A.  Board  should 
have  up  for  consideration  just  now.  What  about  the  time  and  place,  the 
story  telling  contest,  the  debate,  the  musical  entertainment,  the  athletic 
and  field  sports,  the  special  manual  exercises,  the  .  religious  services  to 
close?  Are  you  ready  with  any  or  all  of  these?  What  have  you  in  your 
Stake  to  offer  for  the  annual  general  Convention?  Work  up  enthusiasm  and 
interest  this  month. 

Elder  Wells  Cloward,  writing  from  Mount  Vernon,  Illinois,  January  16, 
says  that  the  elders  of  Mount  Vernon  wish  to  express  their  gratitude  for  the 
Improvement  Era.  "We  find  it  a  welcome  visitor — one  that  enlightens  as 
well  as  encourages  the  elders  in  their  missionary  labors.  We  pray  that 
with  our  aid  the   Era  may  reach  many  more  homes." 

Elder  Hilmar  M.  i\:-lsc-  writing  from  Odense,  Denmark,  says,  "We  read 
the  Era  with  great  interest,  » id  find  many  of  its  articles  of  special  value  to 
the  Missionaries.  It  is  doing  a  good  work  wherever  it  comes.  I  have  been 
a  subscriber  for  eight  years,  and  have  never  wanted  to  be  without  it.  May 
the  Era  prosper,  and  be  found  in  many  more  homes  than  now.'' 


Period  One  of  the  History  of  the  Church 

Is  Now  Complete 

Volume    6  is    J\foiv    Ready    and  on  Sale 

THE  HISTORY  of  that  portion  of  the  growth  of  the  Church  designated 
"Period   One"   is   complete.     The   new   volume   brings   this    compre- 
hensive   work    down    to,    and    includes    the    MARTYRDOM    of    the 
PROPHET. 

The  History  of  the  Church,  now  in  six  volumes,  is  taken  mostly  from 
the  records  and  writings  of  the  Prophet  Joseph  Smith.  This  work  is 
published  under  the  direction  of  the  Historian's  Office,  and  is  edited  by 
Elder  B.  H.  Roberts.  Every  family  should  have  a  complete  set.  The 
prices  are: 

Cloth per  vol.   postpaid     $1 .50 

Three-quarter  Morocco    "  $2.50 

One-half  Calf    "  "                         $2.50 

Full   Morocco,   Gilt  Edge "  $4.00 

ORDER  OF  YOUR  DEALER  OR  DIRECT  FROM  US 

Deseret  News  Book  Store 

No.   6    SOUTH    MAIN    STREET  SALT    LAKE   CITY 


IMPROVEMENT  ERA,    MARCH,  1912. 

Two  Dollars  per  Annum  with  Manual  Free. 
Entered  at  the  Post  Office,  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  as  second  class  matter. 

Joseph  F.  Smith,  \  y  ,.,  Heber  J.  Grant,  Business  Manager 

Edward  H.  Anderson,  /  Moroni  Snow,  Assistant 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

The  Higher  Law  in  Politics William  A.  Hyde 339 

M.  I.  A.  Scouts Lyman   R.   Martineau 354 

The  Beginnings  of  Human  History A.  B.  Christenson 362 

better  to  a  Missionary Roscoe  W.  Eardley 369 

"Mormonism"  in   South  Africa C.    Byron    Whitney 373 

Health    Topics Dr.  Samuel  J.  Russell 374 

Little  Problems  of  Married  Life  VII William    George    Jordan 379 

Need  of  Religious  Training  in  Childhood.  . .   J.   H.   Petersen 387 

Is  There  Marrying  and  Giving  in  Marriage 

in  Heaven? John   L.  Nebeker 391 

To  a  Missionary.     A   Poem Susa   Young    Gates 395 

The  Open  Road.    Adventures  XI.  and  XII.  .  .  John   Henry  Evans 396 

From  Nauvoo  to  Salt  Lake.    XIII Moroni   Show 407 

Elders  of  the  Newcastle  Conference 411 

The    Cigarette.      Illustrated 412 

Tribute  to  Mary  Freeze Susa   Young    Gates 414 

(  Joseph    F.   Smith 

Editor's   Table — Pre-existent   States 1  Anthon    H.   Lund 417 

I  Chas.  W.  Penrose 

Testimony     Jacob  F.  Gates 418 

Heaven  and  Hell 419 

Get   Busy Calvin  S.  Smith 421 

Inspiring  Hymns  . Heber  J.   Grant 422 

Messages  from  the  Missions 424 

Priesthood   Quorums'   Table — How   to   Take 

Up  a  Lesson  III Levi    Edgar  Young 429 

Passing  Events   430 


IMPROVEMENT  ERA. 


Vol.  XV.  MARCH,  1912  No.  5 


The  Higher  Law  in  Politics 


BY    WILLIAM   A.   HYDE,   PRESIDENT   OF   THE   POCATELLO 
STAKE    OF    ZION 


The  subject  for  the  young  men  of  the  Church  in  their  last 
season's  manual,  '"The  Making  of  a  Citizen,"  has  suggested 
some  thoughts  as  to  the  powers,  privileges  and  duties  of  citizen- 
ship under  the  beneficent  laws  of  our  great  country. 

The  universality  of  law  has  been  shown  by  this  apt  expres- 
sion: "Its  voice  is  the  harmony  of  the  universe,  its  fountain  is 
the  bosom  of  God."  This  being  true  would  justify  the  assertion 
that  all  just  and  righteous  laws,  wherever  and  however,  and  by 
whomsoever  formulated,  are  laws  of  God.  This  would  lead  to 
a  final  and  last  analysis  of  law,  as  being  merely  truth  applied  for 
the  government  of  humanity.  These  generalities  may  be  easily 
accepted  by  the  "Mormon"  people,  for,  though  not  expressed  in 
just  those  words,  these  ideas  with  reference  to  law  run  through 
the  entire  fabric  of  their  doctrines.  Without  a  shock  to  our  sense 
of  reverence,  we  may  even  say  that  God  himself  is  subject  to  law; 
and  that  although  he  is  the  author  of  law,  in  the  sense  that  he  has 
applied  truth  to  the  conditions  of  men — primal  law  is  co-existent 
with  him. 

John  says,  referring  to  the  Savior :  "In  the  beginning  was  the 
Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God.  *  *  * 
and  the  Word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us,"  and  the 
Prophet  Joseph  Smith,  in  referring  to  this  statement  of  John,  says 
further:  "Man  was  also  in  the  beginning  with  God.  Intelligence, 
or  the  light  of  truth,  was  not  created  or  made,  neither  indeed 
can  be.  All  truth  is  independent  in  that  sphere  in  which  God  has 
placed  it,  to  act  for  itself,  as  all  intelligence  also,  otherwise  there 
is  no  existence."     Doc.  &  Cov.  93  :2C)-30.     Cod  sent  his  Son,  the 


340  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

embodiment  of  truth,  to  the  world  to  be  "the  light  of  men,"  the 
doctrines  that  he  laid  down  for  the  government  of  men  are  the 
expression  and  application  of  those  truths — they  are  the  highest 
ideal  laws  for  the  government  of  men,  and  in  their  essence  are 
elemental.  "'Sin  is  the  transgression  of  the  law,"  and  "to  him 
that  knoweth  to  do  good,  and  doeth  it  not,  to  him  it  is  sin."  To 
fail  to  do  good,  then,  is  to  break  the  law.  If  we  could  only  sense 
it,  there  really  is  no  division  of  law  into  secular  and  religious  or 
ecclesiastical.  Such  division  as  exists  is  mechanical  merely,  and 
the  direct  result  of  the  fact  that  men  are  estranged  from  God. 
Moses  needed  no  such  division,  for  his  statutes  were  written  by 
the  finger  of  the  Almighty.  When  Jefferson  wrote  these  words : 
"We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self  evident,  that  all  men  are  created 
equal,  and  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain 
inalienable  rights,  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty  and  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness,"  he  repeated  in  new  words  the  doctrine  of  free 
agency  that  inspired  Michael's  hosts  to  the  victory  over  Lucifer 
upon  the  primeval  battlefield;  and  this,  the  greatest  of  all  laws 
shaped  in  the  Heavens,  is  to  be  credited  with  the  present  freedom 
of  humanity.  The  right  of  liberty  is  the  right  to  apply  truths,  as 
men  collectively  see  them,  to  the  conditions  of  their  lives,  and  these 
applications  are  the  law  of  men,  and  whether  simple,  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  a  tribe  in  their  skins,  or  complex,  for  a  nation  with 
wonderful  cities  and  mighty  armies,  they  are,  corresponding  to 
their  beneficent  qualities,  the  near  or  remote  expression  of  the 
divine  will.  That  God  should  recognize  and  encourage  these 
efforts  of  his  children  in  the  interpretation  and  application  of 
truth,  is  further  evidence  that  he  abides  the  law,  for  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  in  him  lies  the  right  of  appeal,  often 
exercised  to  the  overturning  of  the  corrupt  and  unrighteous  of 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  his  word  to  the  individual  has  been  that 
he  should  abide  the  powers  that  be.  The  Latter-day  Saints,  in 
line  with  this  attitude  of  the  Lord  toward  the  laws  of  men,  have 
adopted  this  rule  of  conduct:  "We  believe  in  being  subject  to 
kings,  presidents,  rulers  and  magistrates,  and  in  obeying,  honoring 
and  sustaining  the  law." — Articles  of  Faith.  It  is  a  short  stretch 
of  logic,  therefore,  to  say,  that  in  obeying  officers  and  in  honoring 
the  law,  we  are  obeying  and  honoring  God.  The  means  being  in 
the  hands  of  men  to  accomplish  in  an  orderly  way  the  reversal 
of  bad  laws,  the  Lord  does  not  approve  of  rebellion,  either  to- 


THE   HIGHER    LAW   IN    POLITICS  341 

ward  laws  or  their  administrators ;  and  the  commandment,  "good 
men  and  wise  men  you  should  observe  to  uphold,"  does  not  carry 
with  it  the  opposite,  that  bad  men  in  office  should  be  overthrown 
by  revolution  and  anarchy. 

Thus,  with  temporary  failures  and  reversals,  men,  from  the 
beginning  of  order,  have  been  pursuing  an  upward  course,  nearer 
and  nearer  to  the  perfect  light.  In  the  Grecian  and  Roman  fo- 
rums men  discovered  democracy — the  sovereignty  of  the  masses ; 
to  harmonize  those  rights  with  the  powers  that  vest  in  office, 
has  been  a  problem  of  the  ages,  for  there  has  been  no  man  born 
that  has  been  fit  for  anything  but  the  shackles  of  a  slave  that 
has  not  brought  with  him  to  earth  the  liberty  granted  to  him  in 
the  Heavens.  Time  and  time  again  there  have  been  earthly  con- 
flicts, to  renew  again  the  primeval  victory;  Marathon,  Leuctra, 
Runnymede,  Yorktown — these  are  echoes  merely  and  the  conse- 
quence of  the  primeval  struggle.  The  immediate  part  that  God 
has  had  in  the  evolution  upward,  has  been  the  inspiration  that 
has  been  revealed  by  his  prophets;  not  the  prophets  only  whose 
names  have  appeared  within  the  lids  of  the  scriptures,  but  the 
heralds  of  light  from  whatever  source.  He  has  wrought  upon 
men  until  they  have  broken  through  the  shell  of  custom  and 
precedent,  hardened  into  the  tyranny  and  oppression  either  of 
men  or  of  ignorance,  and  the  epochs  of  law  have  been  those  of  the 
adaptation  of  men  to  truths  which  their  newly  acquired  intelli- 
gence has  permitted  them  to  see  and  use.  The  higher  forms  of 
law  are  the  more  dangerous,  for  they  permit  the  most  liberty,  and 
liberty  is  a  two-edged  sword  that  cuts  both  ways.  When  humanity 
gets  to  the  point  where  liberty  may  in  all  ways  be  safely  intrusted 
to  them,  they  will  have  arrived  at  the  place  when  they  will  be  fit 
subjects  of  the  highest  forms  of  intelligence. 

Governments  recognize  in  their  codes  what  is  termed  the 
"common  law,"  and  this  common  law  is  not  limited  in  operation 
to  one  government,  but  is  international ;  thus  the  common  law 
of  the  United  States  finds  its  basis  in  the  unwritten  laws  of  Eng- 
land ;  unwritten,  because  they  are  so  self  evident  as  to  need  no 
formal  statute.  If  traced  to  its  earthly  beginning,  common  law 
as  recognized  by  enlightened  nations  would  go  back  in  one  form 
or  another,  through  the  various  avenues  of  history,  until  lost  in 
the  mazes  of  tradition,  but  it  will  be  found  to  be  in  all  ages  the 
survival  of  the  truth,  added  to  here  and  there,  gaining  in  strength 


342  IMPROVEMENT    Kit  A 

and  volume  as  peoples  gain  in  experience,  and  fitting  itself  to  the 
needs  of  man  in  his  evolution.  There  has  been  some  argument 
over  the  proposition  that  Christianity  is  a  part  of  the  common 
law.  It  is  more  consistent  to  take  the  stand  that  common  law  is 
a  part  of  true  Christianity,  or,  rather,  a  part  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  Latter-day  Saints,  this  thought 
is  justified  by  the  statement  of  the  Lord  in  a  revelation  to  his 
modern  prophet :  "And  that  law  of  the  land  which  is  constitutional, 
supporting  that  -principle  of  freedom  in  maintaining  rights  and 
privileges,  belongs  to  all  mankind,  and  is  justifiable  before  me." — 
Doc.  &  Cov.  98 15.  This  would  indicate  that  in  the  dealings  of 
God  with  his  children  there  are  principles  of  justice  and  righteous- 
ness common  to  all  men,  irrespective  of  race,  creed  or  color,  in 
fact,  God's  common  law.  One  author  has  said  that  "the  unwritten 
or  common  law,  as  distinguished  from  the  written  or  statute  law, 
is  the  embodiment  of  principles  and  rules  inspired  by  natural 
reason,  an  innate  sense  of  justice,  and  the  dictates  of  convenience, 
and  voluntarily  adopted  by  men  for  their  government  in  social 
relations."  It  is  the  survival  of  the  best,  in  the  experiences  of 
mankind,  knowledge  of  things  as  they  have  been  crystalized  for 
the  benefit  of  those  to  come,  and  preserved  in  the  histories,  rather 
than  in  the  law  books  of  men. 

Upon  this  fundamental  basis  of  the  common  law,  men  have 
from  time  to  time  made  agreements  with  each  other,  and  entered 
into  compacts,  binding  themselves  and  their  followers  to  certain 
general  principles  of  government,  and  these  compacts  are  the 
constitutions  upon  which  some  monarchies  and  all  republican 
forms  of  government  rest.  A  constitution  represents  the  pre- 
vailing intelligence  and  morality  of  its  framers,  and,  as  one 
authority  puts  it,  "is  not  the  beginning  of  a  community,  nor  the 
origin  of  private  rights ;  it  is  not  the  fountain  of  law,  nor  the 
incipient  state  of  government ;  it  is  not  the  cause,  but  consequence, 
of  personal  and  political  freedom ;  it  grants  no  rights  to  the  peo- 
ple, but  is  the  creature  of  their  power,  the  instrument  of  their 
convenience."  They  may  be  as  unstable  as  the  wind,  as  when, 
at  the  birth  of  the  French  republic,  they  were  the  creatures  of  a 
day,  as  this  or  that  body  of  men  came  into  power.  They  are 
valuable  to  the  cause  of  humanity  only  as  they  shall  have  in  them 
the  basic  principles  of  right.  They  may  have  the  highest  forms 
of  wisdom,  calculated  for  the  prosperity  of  an  enlightened  people, 


THE   HIGHER   LAW   IN   POLITICS  343 

or  they  may  have  but  a  mixture  of  the  good  with  a  preponderance 
of  the  bad ;  but,  good  or  bad,  they  serve  in  a  sense  as  the  founda- 
tion upon  which  shall  rest  the  body  politic. 

The  constitution  of  our  country  seems  to  have  united  in  it 
the  sum  of  wisdom  as  an  instrument  for  the  benefit  and  for 
the  government  of  men,  and  it  is  marvelous  to  the  ordinary  mind 
to  think  of  the  intellect  that  could  have  conceived  it.  Over  a 
hundred  years  ago  it  began  service  with  a  poverty  stricken  peo- 
ple, who  were  living  their  narrow  life  under  crude  circumstances 
and  conditions,  and  has  continued  with  them  through  the  most 
wonderful  national  history  of  the  ages,  adapting  itself  to  their 
growth,  providing  for  their  needs,  as  one  by  one  the  great  prob- 
lems of  a  developing  country  has  confronted  them.  The  Latter- 
day  Saints  look  upon  this  as  a  natural  result,  rather  than  as  a 
fortuitous  circumstance  or  happy  coincidence,  for  they  believe  that 
the  Intelligence  which  from  the  beginning  has  applied  truth  for 
the  benefit  of  man,  had  an  active  part  in  the  making  of  the  con- 
stitution of  our  country.  They  believe  what,  in  a  revelation,  the 
Lord  said  to  the  Prophet  Joseph  Smith : 

"According  to  the  laws  and  constitution  of  the  people  which  I 
have  suffered  to  be  established,  and  should  be  maintained  for  the 
rights  and  protection  of  all  flesh,  according  to  just  and  holy  principles, 
that  every  man  may  act  in  doctrine  and  principle  pertaining  to  futurity, 
according  to  the  moral  agency  which  I  have  given  unto  them,  that 
every  man  may  be  accountable  for  his  own  sins  in  the  day  of  judg- 
ment. Therefore  it  is  not  right  that  any  man  should  be  in  bondage 
one  to  another.  And  for  this  purpose  I  have  established  the  constitu- 
tion of  this  land,  by  the  hands  of  wise  men  whom  I  raised  up  unto 
this  very  purpose,  and  redeemed  this  land  by  the  shedding  of  blood" 
(Doc.   &   Cov.   101:77-81). 

Believers  in  modern  revelation,  in  view  of  this  announcement, 
have  no  difficulty  in  providing  the  basis  for  a  healthy,  patriotic 
belief  in  the  sufficiency  of  the  constitution  of  this  country.  It 
is  easy  for  us  to  understand  now  how  Jefferson  could,  in  tin- 
Declaration  'of  Independence,  have  provided  the  keynote  for  the 
constitution  that  in  due  time  followed  ;  for  it  amply  insures  "life, 
liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,"  which  is  the  sum  of  all 
human  desire.  To  be  an  obedient,  earnest  citizen  of  this  republic 
becomes  a  pleasant  duty,  when  we  can  believe  that  God  had  a 
hand  in  the  moulding  of  our  institutions.  To  one  who  believes  thus, 
his  chief  concern  is,  not  that  the  instrument  shall  fail  in  some  new 


344  IMPROVEMENT   ERA 

emergency,  but  that  men,  forgetting  or  not  knowing  the  measure 
of  its  divinity,  shall  attempt  to  overthrow,  change,  or  supplant 
it.  That  it  is  intended  to  be  an  abiding,  continuous  instrument 
for  the  happiness  of  mankind  is  attested  by  the  inspired  prayer 
uttered  by  the  Prophet,  wherein  he  says :  "Have  mercy,  O  Lord, 
upon  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  have  mercy  upon  the  rulers  of 
our  land,  may  those  principles  which  were  so  honorably  and  nobly 
defended,  viz.,  the  constitution  of  our  land  by  our  fathers,  be 
established  forever"  (Doc.  &  Cov.  109:54).  That  the  Lord  in- 
tended that  we,  with  our  knowledge  of  the  hand  that  he  had  in 
the  framing  of  the  constitution,  should  befriend  and  support  it,  is 
evidenced  by  the  words : 

"And  that  law  of  the  land  which  is  constitutional,  supporting  that 
principle  in  maintaining  rights  and  privileges,  belongs  to  all  mankind 
and  is  justifiable  before  me.  Therefore,  I  the  Lord  justify  you,  and 
your  brethren  of  my  church,  in  befriending  that  law  which  is  the 
constitutional  law  of  the  land;  and  as  pertaining  to  the  law  of  man, 
whatsoever  is  more  or  less  than  these  cometh  of  evil.  I  the  Lord 
God  make  you  free,  therefore  ye  are  free  indeed;  and  the  law  also 
maketh  you  free"  (Doc.  &  Cov.  98:5-8). 

The  Church,  by  these  statements,  embodied  in  its  revelations, 
has  incorporated  the  constitutional  laws  of  the  country  into  its 
beliefs,  and  they  become  in  a  sense  a  rule  of  faith.  There  should 
be  no  question  with  the  "Mormon"  people,  then,  as  to  their  alle- 
giance, and  they  should  be  among  the  most  ardent  defenders  of 
the  principles  of  our  government. 

These  thoughts  have  been  suggested  to  me  by  hearing  con- 
stant agitation,  the  tendency  of  which  seems  to  be  directed  against 
the  constitution.  There  appears  to  be  an  ill-considered  desire  for 
sweeping  changes,  that  appear  to  strike  at  the  root  of  fundamental 
principles.  I  was  greatly  surprised,  in  talking  with  a  man  who 
is  the  accredited  representative  of  a  political  faith,  to  hear  him 
say  that  the  American  people  had  outgrown  their  constitution,  and 
that  it  should  be  discarded  for  something  that  would  meet  the 
present  needs  of  the  people.  If  that  idea  is  shared  by  many,  it 
is  in  my  opinion  an  alarming  symptom,  and  one  that  to  me  appears 
to  be  little  less  than  treasonous.  The  abolition  of  law  is  anarchy, 
a  condition  which  the  religious  mind  contemplates  with  fear;  yet 
how  close  upon  this  state  of  chaos  we  tread  when  we  denounce  the 
restraints  of  government  in  its  efforts  to  preserve  the  rights  of 


THE    HIGHER    LAW    IN    POLITICS  34.") 

its  citizens.  Of  that  class  of  semi-anarchists  in  our  country  who 
support  and  enjoy  inflammatory  publications,  that  condone  and 
encourage  the  violence  of  mobs,  we  might  say — that  denying  the 
protection  of  the  law  for  others  and  becoming  a  law  unto  them- 
selves, they  have  rejected  the  benefits  of  our  constitution,  and 
cannot  expect  for  themselves  the  full  flower  and  fruits  that  come 
from  the  enjoyment  of  orderly  liberty.  Of  them  it  may  be  truly 
said,  as  the  Lord  says  of  those  who  prefer  to  reject  the  spiritual 
law : 

"That  which  breaketh  a  law  and  abideth  not  by  law,  but  seeketh 
to  become  a  law  unto  itself,  and  willeth  to  abide  in  sin,  cannot  be 
sanctified  by  law,  neither  by  mercy,  justice  nor  judgment,  therefore 
they  must  remain  filthy  still''  (Doc.  &  Cov.  88:35). 

That  judges,  juries  and  witnesses  in  our  country,  may  be 
intimidated,  may  mean  that  there  is  in  our  midst  the  breeding 
grounds  for  an  upheaval,  beside  which  the  French  Revolution 
would  in  comparison  be  as  a  summer  zephyr  to  a  cyclone.  A 
modern  Gadianton  band  would  find  a  congenial  atmosphere  where 
a  cry  is  raised  unrebuked  against  the  courts,  which  are  the  safe- 
guards of  the  people! 

Only  one  step  removed  from  this  mental  attitude,  is  the  frame 
of  mind  that  is  apathetic  in  the  presence  of  law  breaking.  Tn  my 
opinion  there  is  no  rule  of  ethics  that  should  close  the  mouths 
of  witnesses  to  infractions  of  the  law ;  and  that  maudlin  senti- 
mentality that  parades  "honor"  as  a  reason  for  silence  in  the 
presence  of  wrong  doing,  has  in  very  deed  "stolen  the  liver)-  of 
Heaven  to  serve  the  Devil  in!" 

Patriotism,  to  be  genuine,  must  take  on  the  active  quality, 
that  will  regard  the  honor  of  our  institutions  as  an  individual 
responsibility.  That  there  are  evils  in  the  administration  of  our 
government  no  one  will  attempt  to  deny,  but  that  they  are  due 
to  a  lack  of  knowledge  as  to  our  rights,  and  of  the  way  to  maintain 
them  under  and  by  the  assistance  of  the  constitution,  is  just  as 
apparent. 

What  the  American  people  most  need,  in  my  opinion,  is  a 
deeper  consciousness  of  their  sovereignty,  with  more  enlighten- 
ment as  to  their  powers  under  the  constitution.  Free  agency  of 
man  presumes  the  democracy  of  man,  and  that  is  as  true  of  his 
civil  as  of  his  religious  relations.  "'And  all  things  shall  be  done 
by  common  censent  in  the  Church"   (Doc.  &  Cov.  26:2),  a  rule 


34C  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

of  Theo-Democracy,  is  a  rule  that  may  be  applied  to  the  political 
affairs  of  men  with  but  the  changing  of  a  word.  It  being  true 
that  the  powers  of  government  are  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  if 
they  are  not  being  properly  served,  the  inevitable  conclusion  is 
that  it  is  their  own  fault  and  not  necessarily  the  fault  of  the  laws ; 
and  to  make  this  condition  the  basis  for  demands  that  are  un- 
constitutional is  unworthy  of  enlightened  citizenship. 

Men  are  clamoring  for  a  more  equitable  division  of  property, 
and  to  gain  their  ends  are  demanding  an  adjustment  that  would 
destroy  one  of  the  choicest  elements  of  our  liberties,  the  right  of 
free  competition  in  an  open  field.  In  their  eagerness  to  have  and 
apply  to  our  present  mortal  conditions,  rules  that  are  idealistic 
and  Utopian  in  their  nature,  they  forget  that  the  end  of  law  is 
to  subserve  the  liberties  of  all.  Conscious  of  inequalities,  they 
are  not  sufficiently  discriminating  as  to  whether  these  differences 
in  wealth  are  the  result  of  wrong  doing.  Inveighing  against  the 
rich  and  favored,  they  forget  that  the  success  of  the  rich  may  be 
due  entirely  to  application  and  industry ;  and  upholding  and  de- 
fending the  poor,  they  forget  that  their  poverty  may  to  an  extent 
be  due  to  their  own  negligence  of  opportunity.  The  Lord  does 
not  spare  the  rich  in  the  iniquities  of  their  possessions,  nor  does 
he  spare  the  poor  in  their  unrighteous  covetousness.  "Wo  unto 
you  rich  men,  that  will  not  give  your  substance  to  the  poor,  for 
your  riches  will  canker  your  souls;  and  this  shall  be  your  lament- 
ation in  the  day  of  visitation,  and  of  judgment,  and  of  indignation 
— The  harvest  is  past,  the  Summer  is  ended,  and  my  soul  is  not 
saved!" 

"Wo  unto  you  poor  men,  whose  hearts  are  not  broken,  whose 
spirits  are  not  contrite,  and  whose  bellies  are  not  satisfied,  and 
whose  hands  are  not  stayed  from  laying  hold  upon  other  men's 
goods,  whose  eyes  are  full  of  greediness,  who  will  not  labor  with 
your  own  hands!"  (Doc.  &  Cov.  56:16,  17)  Justice,  as  an  in- 
strument in  the  hands  of  God,  does  not  deal  with  dollars  and 
cents,  but  with  the  hearts  and  souls  of  men,  and  if  we  could 
achieve  that  attitude  politically,  we  would  be  able  to  solve  many 
of  our  difficult  questions. 

Within  our  basic  law  is  to  be  found  the  remedy  for  every 
evil,  whether  coming  from  organized  capital,  or  originating  in 
the  mob,  and  the  cure  is  to  be  found  in  a  more  thorough  applica- 
tion of  the  means  at  our  command. 


THE    HIGHER   LAW   IN    POLITICS  347 

N 

Of  the  elements  in  political  betterment  that  have  been  over- 
looked by  the  sovereign  people,  this — that  men,  more  than  prin- 
ciples, should  be  sought  after,  is  the  most  conspicuous.  It  is  a 
glaring  fallacy,  proven  so  by  history,  that  any  body  of  men  may 
appropriate  and  exercise  infallibly,  principles  of  righteousness. 
Principles  are  not  to  be  found  upon  a  banner,  but  in  the  heart. 
That  the  nation's  greatness  was  wrapped  up  in  Republicanism  or 
Democracy  has  been  the  cherished  belief  of  many  honest  citizens, 
and  they  have  blindly  followed  their  party  flag,  no  matter  by 
whom  carried.  In  making  up  the  new  order  of  things  political, 
this  idea  is  the  first  one  to  be  slaughtered. 

It  would  appear  to  be  a  patent  truth  that  if  just  men  had 
always  the  making  and  administration  of  the  laws,  that  just  laws, 
in  intent  at  least,  would  always  be  the  result  of  their  deliberations ; 
so  it  would  seem  that  the  injunction  in  this  revelation  of  the  Lord 
to  the  Latter-day  Saints  would  be  the  highest  form  of  political 
wisdom :  "Wherefore,  honest  men,  and  wise  men,  should  be  sought 
for  diligently,  and  good  men,  and  wise  men,  ye  should  observe  to 
uphold ;  otherwise  whatsoever  is  less  than  these  cometh  of  evil" 
(Doc.  '&  Cov.  98:10).  Even  though  coming  as  a  purported  rev- 
elation patriotic  men  ought  not  to  fear  it,  it  is  the  light  that  will 
lead  to  the  way. 

We  talk  glibly  and  hopefully  of  the  greatest  good  for  man  ; 
of  the  coming  of  the  day  when  peace  shall  prevail  and  righteous- 
ness shall  reign,  and  yet  what  a  bitter  irony  meets  us  in  the  fact 
that  it  is  brought  about  by  the  devious  and  questionable  methods 
of  a  political  system,  and  by  our  own  carelessness  as  to  our  rights 
and  powers,  that  the  men  who  make  and  administer  the  laws  are 
not  always  just  either  in  intent  or  action. 

Politics  and  the  law — how  poorly  mated,  yet  how  inseparably 
connected !  Politics  makes  the  lawmakers,  the  lawmakers  make 
the  law;  upon  the  answer  to  this  question,  then,  depends  much: 
"Who  controls  politics?" 

Is  not  this  a  truth,  that  in  the  past  not  often  enough  have 
men  in  the  precincts  of  library  or  study,  with  sober,  earnest  minds 
that  reached  out  for  truth  and  right,  named  the  policies  or  the 
candidates0  Has  it  not  too  often  been  the  case  that  from  the  less 
earnest  and  conscientious,  to  say  the  least,  has  come  the  final 
dictum?  And  would  we  be  far  from  the  truth  if  we  should  say 
that  in  manv  of  the  communities  of  our  nation  the  laws  that 


348  IMPROVEMENT    KKA 

govern,  and  the  powers  that  control,  get  their  inspiration  in  the 
back  room  of  a  saloon  ?  The  stern  irony  of  an  appalling  situation  ! 
The  righting  of  this  matter  is  a  titan  task,  which  even  the  just, 
though  muscled  like  Hercules,  can  never  accomplish  with  their 
present  conception  of  the  root  of  things !  To  effect  this,  the 
self-respecting  man,  who  has  held  aloof  from  the  contamination 
of  the  rabble  that  congregate  around  the  spoils  of  place,  must 
come  to  learn  that  if  he  would  clean  the  Augean  stables,  he  must 
step  into  the  mire. 

An  objector  will  say :  "You  come  tardily  with  your  criticisms 
of  the  present  order,  and  your  pessimism  is  unwarranted  in  view 
of  the  recent  advances  in  our  nation."  It  is  true  that  the  wise 
and  courageous  action  of  prominent  officials,  aided  by  the  forces 
of  reform,  have  accomplished  much  in  the  last  few  years,  but  we 
will  find  that  so  deep  a  sore  is  not  easily  and  permanently  cured ; 
for  the  same  genius  that  has  evaded  right  in  the  beginning,  will, 
out  of  its  exhaustless  resources,  find  a  way  wholly  or  partially 
to  nullify  the  people's  will.  The  only  way  for  a  permanent  cure 
is  the  living  of  the  higher  law  in  politics. 

As  party  men,  we  are  governed  by  a  rod  of  iron.  Shall  we 
say  the  word  that  shall  commit  us  to  a  disregard  of  political 
authority — if  so,  we  shall  be  guilty  of  the  crime  of  lese  majesty 
to  the  party  king,  for  no  one  but  the  man  who  has  felt  the  penalty 
can  judge  of  the  effectiveness  of  party  discipline.  Did  he  fail  to 
respond  to  the  party  call,  however  arbitrary — did  he  lift  his  voice 
against  an  unjust  or  unwise  party  conclusion — then  shall  come 
an  ostracism  that  shall  relegate  him  to  political  oblivion,  pending 
his  abject  repentance,  when  he  may  enter  again  to  service,  but 
never  again  to  honor  among  his  fellows. 

The  watchword,  "To  the  victor  belongs  the  spoils."  argues 
more  than  a  volume  the  primary  object  and  reward  of  political 
activity,  and  that  the  opportunity  to  distribute  these  "spoils." 
primarily  and  rightfully  the  people's  possession,  is  in  the  hands 
of  a  favored  "few  from  whose  decision  there  is  no  appeal,  opens 
the  way  to  a  species  of  tyranny  that  should  find  no  place  in  our 
free  institutions.  That  this  power  is  wisely  used  by  some,  with 
more  care  for  the  public  good  than  for  personal  benefit,  does  not 
take  from  the  danger  that  lurks  in  the  system.  It  too  often 
means  the  barter  of  principle  for  pelf — too  often  punishment  for 
independence.     Happily  there  arc  men  too  big  to  be  used  by  this 


THE  HIGHER  LAW   IN   POLITICS  349 

system.  These  men  have  colored  party  politics  by  their  own  vir- 
tues, and  have  thus  been  the  saviors  of  their  parties.  These  men 
have  become  heroes  when  lesser  men  would  have  been  named 
traitors.  Roosevelt  lived  the  higher  law ;  he  was  bigger  than  his 
party  in  this,  that  he  took  from  the  pigeon  holes  of  her  sanctuary 
the  musty  documents  of  political  virtue,  and  aired  them  in  the 
sunlight  of  today.  He  made  no  new  truths — he  breathed  the 
breath  of  life  into  the  old.  "A  square  deal  for  every  man"  is 
merely  Jefferson  more  tersely  put.  While  the  little  bosses  exe- 
crated him,  and  the  big  ones  feared  him,  he  brushed  aside  the 
conventionalities  of  party,  and  spoke  the  fundamental  truths  of 
life,  of  justice  and  of  right,  as  between  man  and  man.  Knowing 
that  "the  letter  killeth  but  the  spirit  giveth  life,"  he  amazed  those 
who  worship  at  the  dry  bone  sanctuary  of  the  constitution,  by 
interpreting  that  sacred  document  into  active  force.  And  Roose- 
velt is  not  the  only  man  who  could  break  away  from  fossilized 
party  dogma;  it  is  fortunate  for  our  country  that  such  men  are 
not  limited  to  one  party,  nor  to  one  locality. 

Under  the  spirit  of  the  constitution,  construed  as  it  was  in- 
tended, for  the  good  of  men,  let  us  speak  for  a  free  voice  for 
every  one,  unbound  by  any  restrictions  except  his  own  good  con- 
science. With  the  present  average  personnel  of  political  organiza- 
tions, what  has  political  convention  or  caucus  to  do  with  the 
making  of  reforms  ?  One  man  is  touched  with  the  fire  of  truth, 
and  he  breaks  the  chain.  Jt  is  sacrilege  to  entrust  his  message 
to  mummies  who  chatter  and  prate  of  rules  of  order  and  political 
expediency,  and  measure  his  revelations  in  an  apothecary's  scale 
— embalm  his  living  utterances  with  their  dead  wash,  and  deliver 
them  to  the  people  robbed  and  despoiled  of  their  vitality.  Let 
such  a  man  shout  his  truth  to  the  nation  until  it  is  educated  to 
the  need  of  it,  and  then  there  will  be  no  question  but  that  the 
servants  of  the  people  will  obey  the  popular  will. 

It  is  an  excellent  quality  in  a  citizen  to  speak,  and  speak 
loudly,  and  with  enthusiasm,  on  public  matters.  Modesty,  while 
a  virtue  in  some  respects,  may  become  a  fault  when  it  locks  the 
lips  of  men  who  ought  to  cry  out  against  evils.  The  politician 
who  fattens  upon  vice,  and  who  burdens  the  air  with  his  talk  of 
taxes,  and  the  destruction  of  business,  ought  not  to  have  a 
monopoly  upon  agitation.  Men  ought  not  to  be  afraid  to  bear 
their  testimony  to  the  good  of  law  and  the  value  of  its  enforce- 


350  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

mail.  To  idly  listen  to  a  defamation  of  officials  whom  you  know 
to  be  honorable  and  worthy  is  to  be  a  silent  partner  in  the  sin. 
Resenting  with  courage  attacks  upon  the  liberties  of  men  by  the 
rich,  we  should  with  equal  courage  oppose  the  maudlin  sentiment 
that  a  man  is  innocent,  perforce,  because  he  is  a  representative 
of  the  laborer.  A  broad-minded  discussion  of  questions  should 
be  encouraged.  The  condition  that  at  one  time  prevailed  in 
Greece,  when  citizens  in  a  mass  assembled  in  the  forum  to  con- 
sider matters  of  public  concern,  and  when  these  assemblies  be- 
came a  vast  congress,  might  not  be  possible  in  this  strenuous  age, 
but  it  is  a  state  of  public  interest  greatly  in  advance  of  that  in  our 
country,  where  the  great  body  of  the  people  remain  quietly  at 
home,  while  in  some  instances  a  few  saloon  manipulators  and 
political  grafters  have  packed  the  convention.  By  all  means  let 
there  be  public  opinion,  but  let  the  better  element  of  the  people 
contribute  in  its  manufacture. 

The  method  of  reform  bodies  has  been  to  awaken  sentiment 
by  the  vivid  presentation  of  the  results  of  evil,  and  this  is  ef- 
fective, at  least  temporarily,  but  emotions  are  fleeting,  and  reform 
movements  are  correspondingly  transitory.  The  one  virtue  of 
Satan  is  perseverance,  and  good  must  be  based  upon  a  permanent, 
self-sustaining  foundation  to  withstand  him.  May  it  not  be  that 
we  talk  too  much  of  the  evils  of  drink  and  immorality,  when  all 
the  world  knows  that  these  twin  curses  are  wrong.  Find  me  one 
saloon  man  who  will  justify  his  traffic,  only  on  the  theory  that 
men  should  have  the  right  to  destroy  themselves  if  they  so  desire, 
or  upon  the  other  theory  of  the  right  to  do  business.  Is  not  the 
abstract  issue  of  the  harmfulness  of  these  things  settled  in  the 
minds  of  men?  Yes;  but  the  great  object  of  the  protection  of 
society  has  not  been  accomplished.  The  movement  of  reforms 
has  ebbed  and  flowed  from  the  beginning.  May  not  the  day 
come,  if  we  are  not  prepared,  when  the  tide  may  recede  and  leave 
us  lodged  upon  a  reef?  To  live  the  higher  law  in  politics  will 
permanently  save  and  redeem  us. 

I  would  not  argue  the  discontinuance  of  some  form  of  party 
system,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  we  have  overrated  the  value  of 
platforms  and  of  the  promises  of  men.  The  most  that  these  can 
be  is  an  added  resource  behind  the  main  asset  of  character.  Planks 
have  been  the  laughing  stock  of  observing  men  always,  for  their 
chief  utility  has  been  to  be  used  as  screens  between  the  candidate 


THE    HIGHER    LAW    IN    POLITICS  361 

and  the  people.  Seldom,  and  then  only  when  v\e  have  a  strong 
man  behind  the  platform,  who  makes  its  provisions  a  part  of  his 
conscience,  have  they  been  fully  realized.  When  all  men  come 
to  know  that  there  is  an  elemental  truth  that  all  things  spring 
forth  from  the  heart,  then  we  shall  know  that  to  have  the  highest 
order  of  political  service  we  must  have  the  highest  order  of  men. 
I  believe  that  our  commercial  prosperity  is  more  a  matter  of  in- 
dividual righteousness,  on  the  part  of  the  representatives  of  the 
people,  than  of  party  theories.  To  rob  the  people  by  excessive 
tantfs,  or  to  rob  the  mechanic  by  insufficient  protection,  comes 
within  the  scope  of  the  commandment,  "Thou  shalt  not  steal." 
Exclusive  possession  of  political  dogmas  is  a  thing  of  the  past, 
for  in  matters  of  national  policy  men  veer  from  side  to  side  of 
the  political  arena,  and  in  their  shifting,  caused  by  the  evolution 
and  progress  of  our  national  life  and  development,  men  are  today 
almost  unconsciously,  perhaps,  losing  their  political  identity. 

1  can  think  of  the  ideal  party  organization  in  no  more  fitting 
terms  than  that  it  should  be  an  ark,  in  which  should  repose  the 
covenant  of  our  rights  and  liberties.  Let  no  man  lay  unauthorized 
hands  upon  it,  lest  he  be  smitten;  and  let  no  political  Philistines 
steal  it,  lest  they  incur  the  plagues  and  pestilences  to  be  visited 
upon  them  by  an  outraged  people.  1  shall  not  pursue  the  parallel 
further,  and  say  that  the  Church  should  be  the  High  Priest  to 
keep  in  charge  this  sacred  receptacle,  for  the  Church  does  not 
possess  all  the  conscience  and  virtue  of  the  world;  but  I  will  say 
that  upon  Christian  men  rests  with  more  weight  than  upon  any 
other  the  responsibility  of  guarding  our  liberties,  and  that  it  is 
their  duty,  by  voice  and  influence,  to  keep  it  safe  from  foes  with- 
out and  within  the  party. 

Some  rubbish  must  be  cleared  away  from  the  roots  of  our 
party  systems  that  we  may  see  the  hidden  causes  of  unfavorable 
conditions.  Sometimes  the  seeming  strength  of  a  man  may  be  his 
weakness.  The  man  who  plumes  himself  upon  his  undeviating 
partyism,  who  has  voted  the  good  old  ticket  from  the  beginning, 
with  never  an  analysis  or  choice  of  men,  with  all  his  fancied 
strength  can  never  be  a  safe  pillar  for  the  support  of  our  institu- 
tions. O  the  magic  word  fidelity!  shouted  loudest  by  the 
enemies  of  social  and  civic  virtues !  There  can  be  no  fidelity 
to  right  principles  but  in  just  and  honest  men,  and,  year  after 
year,  good  men  have  marched  with  quiet  consciences  to  the  polls 


IMPROVEMENT    BR  \ 

and  voted  party,  and  have  wondered  at  the  results  and  at  the 
tardy  coming  of  better  conditions,  while  the  politically  dishonest 
men  shouting  party  with  strident  voices,  have  voted  this  way  and 
then  that,  but  always  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  powers  of  evil. 
In  the  secret  rituals  of  these  men  there  is  no  principle  save  selfish- 
ness, and  no  law  save  that  of  gain ;  Democrat,  Republican,  both 
or  neither,  if  his  good  shall  be  best  subserved.  For  such  men, 
ante-election  promises,  hurting  neither  tender  consciences,  nor 
violating  moral  standards,  are  easy  of  the  making.  To  make 
these  two  men  equal  on  election  day,  the  one  maa's  hands  should 
be  put  in  shackles,  if  we  insist  that  the  other  man's  conscience 
should  be  in  irons. 

Character  in  man  must  ever  be  the  prime  element  in  his  fit- 
ness for  responsibility.  Would  it  not  be  a  safe  rule  to  persistently 
follow,  that  men  should  come  to  preferment  in  party  by  the  growth 
and  exhibition  of  moral  qualities,  more  than  by  the  profession  of 
political  principles,  or  by  the  making  of  promises?  And  when 
happily  we  shall  find  combined  in  men  political  experience, 
coupled  with  sterling  character,  then  look,  ye  men  who  stand 
gazing,  at  the  star  in  the  east  that  heralds  the  political  millennium ! 
So  1  would  preach  men  more  than  principles,  for  principles,  in 
and  of  themselves,  without  the  means  of  expression,  are  inert  and 
lifeless;  and  when  only  men  of  unsullied  character  shall  present 
themselves  for  office,  the  battle  is  won.  Herein  comes  the  privi- 
lege and  benefits  of  selection  for  which  the  constitution  provides. 
"Honest  and  wise  men  should  be  sought  for  diligently,"  and 
whether  it  be  the  united  voice  of  a  people  calling  a  Cincinnatus 
from  the  field,  or  whether  it  be  in  the  primary  conventions,  or 
primary  elections,  or  in  the  general  elections  that  follow,  the 
citizens  must  seek  for  men  of  ivorth.  The  idea  ought  not  longer 
to  have  support  that  men  may  have  the  profession  of  an  office 
seeker,  and  live  by  that  trade.  Government  is  a  business  and 
calls  for  the  highest  order  of  ability  and  integrity,  and  successful 
men  of  honor,  whether  in  the  realm  of  thought  or  in  material 
directions,  should  be  preferred,  and  called  from  their  personal 
work  for  the  general  good,  and  out  of  the  hearts  and  consciences 
of  such  men  as  these,  and  that  source  only,  will  come  this  settle- 
ment between  right  and  wrong.  Abstract  the  title  of  each  man 
for  preferment,  and  place  the  brand  of  defeat  upon  the  unworthy, 


THE    HIOHRR   LAW   IN   POLITICS  353 

irrespective  of  party,  "for  whatsoever  is  more  or  less  than  this 
cometh  of  evil." 

While  regarding  with  great  satisfaction  the  advancement  of 
the  last  few  years,  there  is  much  yet  to  be  accomplished  in  the 
cause  of  political  reform.  As  the  enemies  of  righteousness  are 
routed  from  one  state  and  then  another,  the  interstate  problem 
will  become  more  acute.  The  field  of  conflict  will  change,  and 
up  to  the  doors  of  the  National  Capitol,  the  defeated  hordes  of 
vice  and  graft  will  come  as  to  their  final  citadel.  The  miniature 
conditions  of  our  localities  will  be  magnified  a  thousand  times 
upon  this  national  battlefield.  Millionaires  will  take  the  place  of 
frightened  business  men,  trusts  will  take  the  place  of  corporations, 
millions  will  flow  there  as  thousands  here.  A  great  machine, 
with  its  ponderous  wheels,  will  grind  out  in  the  mazes  of  a  per- 
plexing system,  with  selfish  interests  at  every  point,  shaping,  or 
mis-shaping,  the  principles  long  ago  settled  by  the  highest  intelli- 
gence and  conscience  as  the  law  of  right  for  man.  This  battle 
will  continue  until  the  time  when  from  enough  constituencies  of 
the  Union  will  come  these  select  men,  who  shall  be  the  representa- 
tives of  elemental  truth  rather  than  of  parties  and  localities. 

A  lecturer  of  national  reputation  recently  said  that  "our 
government  has  not  yet  established  its  claim  to  permanency;  its 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  years  comprise  only  a  brief  period 
compared  with  many  institutions  past  and  present."  This  country, 
ripening  in  growth  and  prosperity  marvelously,  may  as  soon  decay, 
if  there  be  not  within  it  the  qualities  that  endure. 

I  have  great  respect  for  American  manhood.  It  sometimes 
sleeps  and  sometimes  is  deceived,  but  generally,  when  aroused,  it 
has  an  accurate  sense  of  right.  I  have  faith  in  the  possibility  of 
the  education  of  the  masses,  and  if  the  strong,  thinking  men  of 
the  nation  can  be  emancipated  from  the  thralldom  of  political 
tyranny,  and  the  masses  can  be  educated  to  the  beauties  of  a 
God-given  constitution,  and  to  an  ardent  love  of  its  principles, 
there  will  follow  the  emancipation  of  the  entire  citizenship  from 
the  stupor  of  ignorance  as  to  their  greater  duties,  the  peaceful 
overthrow  of  the  powers  of  evil,  and  the  elevation  to  kingship  of 
the  powers  of  good. 

pocATELLO,  Idaho. 


M.  I.  A.  Scouts 


BY  L.  R.  MARTINEAU,  CHAIRMAN,  AND  THE  COMMITTEE  ON 
ATHLETICS,  ETC.,  BY  APPROVAL  OF  THE  GENERAL  BOARD 


Purpose. 


The  aim  of  the  M.  I.  A.  Scouts  is  to  inculcate  and  stimulate 
in  boys  high  ideals  and  worthy  ambitions  as  essential  to  the  best 
citizenship  and  the  greatest  happiness,  supplementing  the  best 
home  influences  and  existing  educational  and  spiritual  agencies 
which  lead  the  boy  to  do  good  to  himself  by  doing  good  to  others. 
The  keynote  to  the  M.  I.  A.  Scout  movement  may  be  found  in 
the  following: 

M.  T.  A.  Scout  Ideals. 

A  scout  must :  Be  courageous. 

Be  clean.  Be  cheerful. 

Stand  erect.  Be  industrious. 

Keep  his  self-respect.  Maintain  individuality. 

Be  manly.  Believe  in  God  and  right  living. 

What  Scouting  Means. 

Scoutcraft  includes  instruction  in  First  Aid,  Life  Saving, 
Tracking,  Camping,  Woodcraft,  Nature  Study,  Cycling,  Self- 
help,  Self-support,  Patriotism,  and  Loyalty  to  everything  good. 

"In  all  ages  there  have  been  scouts,  the  place  of  the  scout  being 
on  the  danger  line  of  the  army  or  at  the  outposts,  protecting  those  of 
his  company  who  confide  in  his  care. 

"The  army  scout  was  the  soldier  who  was  chosen  out  of  all  the 
army  to  go  out  on  the  skirmish  line.  The  pioneer,  who  was  out  on 
the  edge  of  the  wilderness,  guarding  the  men,  women  and  children  in 
the  stockade,  was  also  a  scout.  Should  he  fall  asleep,  or  lose  control 
of  his  faculties,  or  fail  on  his  watch,  then  the  lives  of  the  men,  women 
and  children  paid  the  forfeit,  and  the  scout  lost  his  honor. 

"But  there  have  been   other  kinds  of  scouts  besides  war  scouts 


M.    I.    A.    SCOUTS  355 

and  frontier  scouts.  They  have  been  the  men  of  all  ages  who  have 
gone  out  on  new  and  strange  adventures,  and  through  their  work 
have  benefited  the  people  of  the  earth.  Thus,  Columbus  discovered 
America,  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  founded  New  England,  the  early  Eng- 
lish settlers  colonized  Jamestown,  and  the  Dutch  built  up  New  York. 
In  the  same  way  the  hardy  Pioneers  pushed  west  and  made  a  new 
home  for  the  American  people  beyond  the  Alleghanies  and  the  Rockies. 

"These  peace  scouts  had  to  be  as  well  prepared  as  any  war  scouts. 
They  had  to  know  scoutcraft.  They  had  to  know  how  to  live  in  the 
woods  and  be  able  to  find  their  way  anywhere,  without  other  chart 
or  compass  than  the  sun  and  stars,  besides  being  able  to  interpret 
the  meaning  of  the  slightest  signs  of  the  forest  and  the  foot  tracks 
of  animals  and  men. 

"They  had  to  know  how  to  live  so  as  to  keep  healthy  and  strong, 
to  face  any  danger  that  came  their  way,  and  to  help  one  another. 
These  scouts  of  old  were  accustomed  to  take  chances  with  death,  and 
they  did  not  hesitate  to  give  up  their  lives  in  helping  their  comrades 
or  country.  In  fact,  they  left  everything  behind  them,  comfort  and 
peace,  in  order  to  push  forward  into  the  wilderness  beyond.  And 
much  of  this  they  did  because  they  felt  it  to  be  their  duty. 

"These  little-known  scouts  could  be  multiplied  indefinitely  by 
going  back  into  the  past  ages  and  reading  the  histories  and  stories  of 
the  knights  of  King  Arthur,  of  the  Crusaders,  and  of  the  great  ex- 
plorers and  navigators  of  the  world. 

"Wherever  there  have  been  heroes  there  have  been  scouts;  and 
to  be  a  scout  means  to  be  prepared  to  do  the  right  thing  at  the  right 
moment,  no  matter  what  the  consequences  may  be. 

"The  way  for  achievement  in  big  things  is  the  preparing  of  one's 
self  for  doing  the  big  things — by  going  into  training  and  doing  the 
little  things  well.  It  was  this  characteristic  of  Livingstone,  the  great 
explorer,  that  made  him  what  he  was,  and  that  has  marked  the  career 
of  all  good  scouts. 

"To  be  a  good  scout  one  should  know  something  about  the  woods 
and  the  animals  that  inhabit  them,  and  how  to  care  for  one's  self 
when  camping. 

"The  habits  of  the  animals  can  be  studied  by  stalking  them  and 
watching  them  in  their  native  haunts. 

"The  scout  should  never  kill  an  animal  or  other  living  creature 
needlessly.  There  is  more  sport  in  stalking  animals  to  photograph 
them,  and  in  coming  to  know  their  habits,  than  in  hunting  to  kill. 

"But  woodcraft  means  more  than  this.  Tt  means  not  only  the 
following  of  tracks  and  other  signs,  but  it  means  to  be  able  to  read 
them.  To  tell  how  fast  the  animal  which  made  the  tracks  was  going; 
to  tell  whether  he  was  frightened,  suspicious    or  otherwise. 

'Woodcraft  also  enables  the  scout  to  find  his  way,  no  matter 
where  he  is.  It  teaches  him  the  various  kinds  of  wild  fruit,  roots, 
nuts,  etc.,  which  are  good  for  food,  or  are  the  favorite  food  of  animals. 

"By  woodcraft  a  scout  may  learn  a  great  number  of  things.     He 


356  IMPROVEMENT    KRA 

may  be  able  to  toll  whether  the  tracks  were  made  by  an  animal  or  by 
man,  bicycle,  automobile  or  other  vehicle. 

"By  having  his  power  of  observation  trained  he  can  tell  by  very 
slight  signs,  such  as  the  sudden  flying  of  birds,  that  someone  is 
moving  very  near  him,  though  he  may  not  be  able  to  see  the  person. 

"Through  woodcraft,  then,  a  boy  may  train  his  eye,  and  be  able 
to  observe  things  that  otherwise  would  pass  unnoticed.  In  this  way 
he  may  be  able  to  save  animals  from  pain,  as  a  horse  from  an  ill- 
fitting  harness.  He  may  also  be  able  to  see  little  things  which  may 
give  him  the  clue  to  great  things,  and  so  be  able  to  prevent  harm  and 
crime. 

"Besides  woodcraft,  one  must  know  something  of  camp  life.  One 
of  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  scout  is  to  be  able  to  live  in  the 
open,  know  how  to  put  up  tents,  build  huts,  throw  up  a  lean-to  for 
shelter,  or  make  a  dugout  in  the  ground,  how  the  build  a  fire,  how  to 
procure  and  cook  food,  how  to  bind  logs  together  so  as  to  construct 
bridges  and  rafts,  and  how  to  find  his  way  by  night  as  well  as  by 
day  in  a  strange  country. 

"Living  in  the  open  in  this  way,  and  making  friends  of  the  trees, 
the  streams,  the  mountains,  and  the  stars  gives  a  scout  a  great  d^al 
of  confidence  and  makes  him  love  the  natural  life  around  him. 

"To  be  able  to  tell  the  difference  between  the  trees  by  their  bark 
and  leaves  is  a  source  of  pleasure;  to  be  able  to  make  a  bed  out  of 
rough  timber,  or  weave  a  mattress  or  mat  out  of  grass  to  sleep  on,  is 
a  joy.     And  all  these  things  a  good  scout  should  know. 

"Then,  too,  a  good  scout  should  be  chivalrous.  That  is,  he  should 
be  as  manly  as  the  knights  or  pioneers  of  old.  He  should  be  un- 
selfish. He  should  show  courage.  He  must  do  his  duty.  He  should 
show  benevolence  and  thrift.  He  should  be  loyal  to  his  country  He 
should  he  obedient  to  his  parents,  and  show  respect  to  those  who  are 
his  superiors.  He  should  be  very  courteous  to  women.  One  of  his 
obligations  is  to  do  a  good  turn  every  day  to  some  one.  He  should 
be  cheerful  and  seek  self-improvement,  and  should  make  a  career  for 
himself. 

"All  these  things  were  characteristics  of  the  old-time  American 
scouts  and  of  the  King  Arthur  knights.  Their  honor  was  sacred.  They 
were  courteous  and  polite  to  women  and  children  espocially  to  tho 
aged,  protected  the  weak,  and  helped  others  to  live  better.  They 
taught  themselves  to  be  strong,  so  as  to  be  able  to  protect  their 
country  against  enemies.  They  kept  themselves  strong  and  healthy, 
so  that  they  might  be  prepared  to  do  all  these  things  at  a  moment 
notice,  and  do  them  well. 

"So  the  boy  scout  of  today  must  be  chivalrous,  manly,  and  gen- 
tlemanly. 

"When  he  gets  up  in  the  morning  he  may  tie  a  knot  in  his  necktie, 
and  leave  the  necktie  outside  his  vest  until  he  has  done  a  good  turn 
Another  way  to  remind  himself  is  to  wear  his  scout  badge  reversed 
until  he  has  done  his  good  turn.     The  good  turn  may  not  be  a  very 


M.   I.    A.   SCOUTS  3f>7 

big  thing — help  an  old  lady  across  the  street;  remove  a  banana  skin 
from  the  pavement  so  that  people  may  not  fall;  remove  from  streett 
or  roads  broken  glass,  dangerous  to  automobile  or  bicycle  tires;  give 
water  to  a  thirsty  horse;  or  deeds  similar  to  these. 

'The  scout  also  ought  to  know  how  to  save  life.  He  ought  to  be 
able  to  make  a  stretcher;  to  throw  a  rope  to  a  drowning  person;  to 
drag  an  unconscious  person  from  a  burning  building,  and  to  resuscitate 
a  person  overcome  by  gas  fumes.  He  ought  also  to  know  the  method 
of  stopping  runaway  horses,  and  he  should  have  the  presence  of  mind 
and  the  skill  to  calm  a  panic  and  deal  with  street  and  other  accidents. 

"This  means  also  that  a  boy  scout  must  always  be  in  the  pink  of 
condition.  A  boy  cannot  do  things  like  these  unless  he  is  healthy  and 
strong.  Therefore,  he  must  be  systematically  taking  exercise,  playing 
games,  running,  and  walking.  It  means  that  he  must  sleep  enough 
hours  to  give  him  the  necessary  strength,  and  if  possible  to  sleep  very 
much  in  the  open  ,or  at  least  with  the  windows  of  his  bedroom  open 
both  summer  and  winter. 

"It  means  also  that  he  should  take  a  cold  bath  often,  rubbing  dry 
with  a  rough  towel.  He  should  breathe  through  the  nose  and  not 
through  the  mouth.  He  should  at  all  times  train  himself  to  endure 
hardships. 

"In  addition  to  these  the  scout  should  be  a  lover  of  his  country. 
He  should  know  his  country.  How  many  states  there  are  in  it,  what 
are  its  natural  resources,  scope,  and  boundaries.  He  ought  to  know 
something  of  its  history,  its  early  settlers,  and  of  the  great  deeds  that 
won  his  land.  How  they  settled  along  the  banks  of  the  James  river. 
How  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  other  great  cities  were  founded. 
How  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  established  New  England  and  laid  the  foun- 
dation for  our  national  life.  How  the  scouts  of  the  Middle  West  saved 
all  that  great  section  of  the  country  for  the  Republic.  Me  ought  to 
know  how  Texas  became  a  part  of  the  United  Staes,  and  how  our 
national  heroes  stretched  out  their  hands,  north  and  south,  east  and 
west,  to  make  one  great  united  country. 

"He  ought  to  know  the  history  of  the  important  wars.  He  ought 
to  know  about  our  army  and  navy  flags  and  the  insignia  of  rank  of 
our  officers.  He  ought  to  know  the  kind  of  government  he  lives 
under,  and  what  it  means  to  live  in  a  republic.  He  ought  to  know 
what  is  expected  of  him  as  a  citizen  of  his  state  and  nation,  and  what 
to  do  to  help  the  people  among  whom  he  lives. 

"In  short,  to  be  a  good  scout  is  to  lie  a  well-developed,  well-in 
formed  boy. 

Scout  Virtues. 

"There  are  other  things  which  a  scout  ought  to  know  and  which 
should  be  characteristic  of  him.  *  *  *  *  *  He  must  learn  to  obey, 
before  he  is  able  to  command.  He  should  so  learn  to  discipline  and 
control  himself  that  he  will  have  no  thought  but  to  obey  the  orders 
of  his  officers.     He  should  keep  such  a  strong  grip  on   his  own  life 


?,:,s  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

eiiUL  lm  w  ill  uui  allow  himself  to  do  anything  which  is  ignoble,  or 
which  will  harm  his  life  or  weaken  oil  powers  of  endurance. 

"Another  virtue  of  the  scout  is  that  of  courtesy.  A  boy  scout 
ought  to  have  a  command  of  polite  language.  He  ought  to  show  that 
he  is  a  true  gentleman  by  doing  little  things  for  others. 

"Loyalty  is  also  a  scout  virtue.  A  scout  ought  to  be  loyal  to  all 
to  whom  he  has  obligations.  He  ought  to  stand  up  courageously  lor 
the  truth,  for  his  parents  and  friends. 

"Another  scout  virtue  is  self-respect.  He  ought  to  refuse  to  accept 
gratuities  from  any  one,  unless  absolutely  necessary.  He  ought  to 
work  for  the  money  he  gets. 

"For  this  same  reason  he  should  never  look  down  upon  any  one 
who  may  be  pooler  than  himself,  or  envy  any  one  richer  than  hinisell. 
A  scout's  self-respect  will  cause  him  to  value  his  own  standing  and 
make  him  sympathetic  toward  others  who  may  be,  on  the  one  hand, 
worse  oil,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  better  off  as  far  as  wealth  is  con- 
cerned. Scouts  knew  neither  a  lower  nor  a  higher  class,  for  a  scout 
is  one  who  is  a  comrade  to  all  and  who  is  ready  to  share  that  which 
he  has  with  others. 

"The  most  important  scout  virtue  is  that  of  honor.  Indeed,  this 
is  the  basis  of  all  scout  virtues,  and  is  closely  allied  to  that  of  selt- 
respect.  When  a  scout  promises  to  do  a  thing  on  his  honor,  he  is 
bound  to  do  it.  The  honor  of  a  scout  will  not  permit  of  anything  but 
the  highest  and  the  best  and  the  manliest.  The  honor  of  a  scout  is  a 
sacred  thing,  and  cannot  be  lightly  set  aside  or  trampled  on. 

"Faithfulness  to  duty  is  another  one  of  the  sc6*ut  virtues.  When 
it  is  a  scout's  duty  to  do  something,  he  dare  not  shirk.  A  scout  is 
iaithtul  to  his  own  interest  and  the  interests  of  others.  He  is  true 
to  his  country  and  his  God. 

"Another  scout  virtue  is  cheerfulness.  As  the  scout  law  intimates, 
he  must  never  go  about  with  a  sulky  air.  He  must  always  be  bright 
and  smiling,  and,  as  the  humorist  says,  'Must  always  see  the  doughnut 
and  not  the  hole.'  A  bright  face  and  a  cheery  word  spread  like  sun- 
shine from  one  to  another.  It  is  the  scout's  duty  to  be  a  sunshine- 
maker  in  the  world. 

"Another  scout  virtue  is  that  of  thoughtfulness,  especially  to 
animals;  not  merely  the  thoughtfulness  that  eases  a  horse  from  the 
pain  of  a  badly  fitting  harness  or  gives  food  and  drink  to  an  animal 
that  is  in  need,  but  also  that  which  keeps  a  boy  from  throwing  a 
stone  at  a  cat  or  tying  a  tin  can  on  a  dog's  tail.  If  a  boy  scout  does 
not  prove  his  thoughtfulness  and  friendship  for  animals,  it  is  quite 
certain  that  he  never  will  be  really  helpful  to  his  comrades  or  to 
men,  women  and  children  who  may  need  his  care. 

"And  then  the  final  and  chief  test  of  the  scout  is  the  doing  of  a 
good  turn  to  somebody  every  day,  quietly  and  without  boasting.  This 
is  the  proof  of  the  scout.     It  is  practical  religion,  and  a  boy  honors 


M.    I.   A.    SCOUTS  359 

God  best  when  he  helps  others  most.  A  boy  may  wear  all  the  icoul 
uniiorms  made,  all  the  scout  badges  ever  manufactured,  know  all  the 
woodcraft,  campcralt,  scoutcratt,  and  other  activities  of  boy  scouts, 
and  yet  never  be  a  real  boy  scout.  To  be  a  real  boy  scout  means  the 
doing  of  a  good  turn  every  day  with  the  proper  motive,  and  if  this 
be  done  the  boy  has  a  right  to  be  classed  with  the  great  scouts  that 
have  been  of  such  service  to  their  country. ' — Extract  from  Boy  Scouts 
of  America,  "Handbook  for  Boys." 

The  great  movement  of  the  Church  from  Illinois  and  Iowa 
to  these  mountains,  in  1847,  an^  the  years  immediately  following, 
developed  among  both  men  and  women  the  highest  art  of  scout- 
craft,  perhaps,  that  has  been  found  among  any  pioneers  in  the 
history  of  our  country.  Loyal  to  country  and  to  their  religion, 
hardy  and  persevering,  they  made  thousands  of  shining  examples 
of  choicest  citizenship,  brave,  wise  and  God-fearing. 

M.  I.  A.  Scouts  Organization. 

Any  member  of  the  Y.  M.  M.  I.  A.  under  the  age  of  18  years 
may  become  a  member,  and  is  entitled  to  be  enrolled  in  the  M.  I. 
A.  Scouts. 

Any  member  of  any  other  Auxiliary  Organization,  or  any 
non-member  of  the  Church,  between  12  and  18  years  of  age,  may 
become  an  M.  I.  A.  Scout  on  a  majority  vote  of  the  local  M.  I.  A. 
Scouts  and  by  consent  of  his  parents. 

The  officers  of  the  M.  I.  A.  Scouts  shall  consist  of: 

1.  A  scout  leader,  who  must  be  over  21  years  of  age,  who  shall 
be  chosen  annually  by  the  members  of  the  M.  I.  A.  Scouts  from  the 
senior  class  of  the  Y.  M.  M.  I.  A. 

2  An  assistant  scout  leader,  who  shall  be  chosen  in  the  same  way 
from  the  senior  class. 

3.  A  patrol  captain  and  one  assistant  captain  for  each  eight 
scouts,  to  be  chosen  annually  in  the  same  way  as  the  scout  leader 
from  the  junior  members. 

4.  The  president  and  his  counselors  of  the  ward  Y.  If.  M.  I.  A., 
and  the  junior  class  teacher,  shall  have  general  supervision  of  the 
officers  and  activities  of  the  M.  I.  A.  Scouts,  and  shall  be  ex-officio 
members  thereof,  in  the  respective  wards,  and  shall  hear  and  settle 
all  matters  of  controversy,  policy  and  local  initiative. 

0.  A  scout  secretary  and  treasurer,  who  should  keep  a  member- 
ship roll  and  the  minutes  of  scout  meetings,  a  record  of  its  achieve- 
ments and  an  account  of  its  finances.  This  office  should  be  held  by 
the  assistant  scout  leader. 


360  IMPROVEMENT   ERA 

Meetings  or  the  M.  I.  A.  Scouts. 

To  avoid  additional  meetings  in  the  wards,  the  M.*  I.  A. 
Scouts  should  meet  immediately  before  or  after  the  regular  ward 
mutual  meeting,  and  spend  thirty  minutes  in  talks,  exercises,  and 
practice  in  scoutcraft,  scout  programs  and  scout  activities.  When 
seasonable,  these  meetings  may  be  held  outdoors,  and  a  greater 
length  of  time  may  be  occupied. 

After  a  careful  selection  of  officers  and  the  confirmation  of 
their  selection  by  the  presidency  of  the  ward  Y.  M.  M.  I.  A.,  the 
scouts  may  proceed  with  their  work  and  recreation. 

At  the  outset  let  it  be  understood  by  officers  and  members 
that  good  order  and  discipline  shall  be  strictly  observed,  and  that 
scout  meetings  must  show  the  same  respect  for  the  common  good 
as  is  the  rule  in  regular  M.  I.  A.  meetings. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  scout  movement  to  do  away  with 
or  supersede  the  regular  manual  class-work  of  the  junior  boys. 
This  work  must  not  be  interfered  with.  Indeed,  it  is  hoped  and 
expected  that  scoutcraft  will  add  enthusiasm  and  loyalty  to  the 
regular  work  of  Mutual  Improvement  and  other  organizations. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  to  provide  an  inflexible  program  for 
each  ward  or  each  scout  organization,  but  to  leave  to  the  local 
officers  opportunity  for  originality  and  initiative  under  the  general 
headings  and  outlines  which  have  the  approval  of  the  General 
Board. 

Prompt  and  punctual  opening  of  scout  meetings,  at  the  hour 
appointed,  is  imperative.  The  scout  leader  should  call  the  scouts 
to  order  exactly  at  the  time  appointed,  declare  the  order  of  busi- 
ness, and  proceed  at  once  to  execute  it : 

1.  Roll  call. 

2.  Brief  M.  I.  A.  Scout  drill,  as  follows: 

I.  Setting-up  exercises;   four  weeks. 

II.  Drill  formation  in  the  closed  order;  four  weeks. 

III.  Red  Cross  drill,  and  first  aid;   ten  weeks. 

IV.  Packing,  tieing,  etc.;  two  weeks. 

V.  Camp  cooking  and  camp  discipline;   four  weeks. 

(For  text  books  on  exercises,  see  "U.  S.  Army  Infantry  Drill  Regu- 
lations for  1911"  and  "American  Red  Cross  First  Aid"  text  book.) 

3.  Instruction:  Not  to  exceed  ten  minutes. 

4.  Miscellaneous:  Announce  next  meeting's  exercises  and  act  on 
current  business. 

5.  Dismiss  by  number  or  song  or  scout  yell. 


M.    I.   A.    SCOUTS  361 

The  time,  thirty  minutes,  allotted  to  scout  meetings,  is  so 
brief  that  not  a  minute  should  be  lost.  But  care  should  be  taken 
to  have  each  meeting  contain  enough  of  drill  and  other  snappy 
exercises  in  scoutcraft,  as  suggested  in  the  opening  of  this  chap- 
ter, as  shall  be  appealing  and  helpful  in  constructive  and  progres- 
sive work.  While  the  boys  may  be  given  reasonable  latitude 
in  scout  meetings,  strictest  respect  for  authority  and  scout  regu- 
lation must  be  insisted  upon  from  the  outset. 

It  is  designed  to  have  brief  talks  to  the  boys  under  the  di- 
vision, "Instruction,"  on  the  choice  of  trades,  professions,  and 
occupations,  giving  such  suggestive  direction  to  their  aims,  tastes 
and  capacities,  for  such  callings,  as  may  be  profitable,  worthy 
and  independent. 

The  great  underlying  purpose  in  incorporating  scoutcraft  in 
the  M.  I.  A.  junior  activities  is  the  making  in  our  boys  a  more 
rugged  manhood  and  more  self-reliant  characters. 

We  give  to  the  organizers  of  the  "Roy  Scouts  of  America" 
unstinted  praise  for  the  splendid  ideas  and  movement  they  have 
inaugurated,  and  find  in  their  Handbook  for  Boys  most  excellent 
outlines  for  scoutcraft,  which  we  advise  our  M.  T.  A.  Scout  offi- 
cers to  use  as  far  as  they  find  them  adapted  to  their  local 
conditions. 

From  time  to  time,  when  practicable,  visits  will  be  made  to 
wards  and  stakes  by  members  of  the  General  Board  and  the  Ath- 
letic Committee,  and  especially  by  the  Field  Athletic  Director. 
John  H.  Taylor,  for  the  purpose  of  instruction  and  assistance  to 
local  officers. 

Since  the  general  authorities  of  the  Church  approve  of  the 
movement  in  athletics  and  M.  T.  A.  Scouting,  it  is  expected  that 
the  local  stake  and  ward  officers  of  the  Church  will  aid  and  sus- 
tain the  efforts  of  Y.  AT.  M.  T.  A.  officers  and  members  who  have 
direct  contact  with  these  activities. 


The  Beginnings  of  Human  History 

BY    A.    B.    CHRISTENSON,    A.   B.,    OF   THE   BRIGHAM    YOUNG 
UNIVERSITY,    PROVO,    UTAH 


[It  is  due  to  the  author  to  say,  in  view  of  later  discussions  on 
similar  topics,  that  the  following  article  was  written  during  his  stay  in 
Germany,  in  the  year  1910.  and  has  been  in  the  keeping  of  the  editors 
since  December  of  that  year. — Editors.] 

With  regard  to  the  beginnings  of  human  history,  and  the 
origin  of  religious  and  moral  ideas  upon  the  earth,  there  is,  per- 
haps, no  other  record  known  to  man  at  the  present  time  that  is 
so  simple,  and  yet  so  comprehensive  and  wonderfully  consistent 
with  the  facts  of  modern  investigation  and  discovery,  as  the 
Pearl  of  Great  Price.  For  it  is  here,  as  nowhere  else  in  the  known 
records  of  mankind,  that  we  are  taken  back  to  the  very  "begin- 
ning" of  time,  and  see  planted  there,  in  the  virgin  soil  of  man's 
understanding  and  hope,  the  seeds  of  divine  truth  and  knowledge  ; 
seeds  which  the  ravages  of  accumulating  centuries,  even  among 
the  barbarous  and  savage  races  of  the  earth,  have  been  unable 
wholly  to  destroy. 

In  this  respect,  therefore,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  Pearl  of 
Great  Price  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  books  in  the  world  to- 
day. Not  alone  does  it  give  the  key  to  a  proper  understanding 
and  appreciation  of  the  rays  of  light  and  truth  which,  during  the 
last  few  years,  have  been  streaming  into  the .  hazy  realms  of 
modern  thought  and  scholarship  from  the  east,  and  that  are  now 
so  ruthlessly  breaking  down  the  theories,  assumptions,  and 
sophistries  of  evolutionists  and  critics,  in  regard  to  man's  life  and 
civilization  in  primitive  ages ;  but  it  also  blazes  the  way  for  future 
discoveries  that  will  no  doubt  prove  even  more  "startling"  to 
the  thinkers  and  scholars  of  the  present  generation,  than  many  of 
those  that  have  already  been  made. 

So,  whatever  the  world  may  choose  to  think  or  say  about 
this  divinely  inspired  booklet,  in  the  future ;  or,  however  much  its 
testimony  may  be  neglected  or  disregarded,  one  fact  continues  to 
stand  out  supreme  as  the  years  go  by.  and  that  is,  that,  through 
the  simple  truth-reflecting  words  of  the  Pearl  of  Great  Price  es- 
pecially, the  Latter-day  Saints  already  knew  and  published  to  the 
world,  decades  before  the  evidences  of  their  existence  were  dis- 


THE    BEGINNINGS  OF  HI 'MAX    HISTORY  ::<;:7. 

covered  by  scholars,  the  wonderful  facts  of  which  the  monuments 
and  tablets  of  Babylonia,  Assyria,  Palestine  and  Egypt  testify,  !n 
such  emphatic  and  unmistakable  terms.  The  importance  of  tins 
point  to  the  claims  of  the  Latter-day  Saints  can  hardly  be  over- 
estimated. For  it  shows  that  these  "convincing"  evidences,  often 
in  reality  only  fragments,  mere  echoes  or  shadows  of  truths  and 
systems  well  known  anciently,  which  have  been  brought  to  light 
by  the  researches  of  recent  years,  could,  of  course,  and  no  doubt 
would,  have  been  known  to  scholars  long  before,  in  greater  ful- 
ness, and  in  their  proper  historic  setting,  had  the  word  "Mor- 
monism"  not,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  and,  perhaps,  for- 
tunately, too,  been  destined  to  make  its  way  in  the  world,  from 
the  first,  under  such  dense  clouds  of  prejudice  and  vilification. 
And  yet,  neither  the  time,  energy,  nor  means  so  unselfishly  spent 
by  honest  and  faithful  investigators  in  the  recovery  of  even  these 
fragments  of  truth  and  knowledge  in  regard  to  the  past  history 
of  mankind,  can  be  in  vain.  This  very  work,  if  we  read  the 
scriptures  aright,  is  an  important  and  necessary  part  of  the  work 
of  the  Dispensation  of  the  Fulness  of  Times,  which  has  already 
so  marvelously  begun,  and  which  will  continue  until  the  whole 
earth  shall  be  covered  by  righteousness  and  truth. 

The  following  passage  from  the  Pearl  of  Great  Price,  in  this 
regard,  is  clear  and  to  the  point : 

"And  righteousness  will  I  send  down  out  of  heaven,  and  truth  will 
I  send  forth  out  of  the  earth,  to  bear  testimony  of  mine  Only  Begotten; 
his  resurrection  from  the  dead;  yea,  and  also  the  resurrection  of  all 
men;  and  righteousness  and  truth  will  I  cause  to  sweep  the  earth  as 
with  a  flood,  to  gather  out  mine  elect  from  the  four  quarters  of  the 
earth,  unto  a  place  which  I  shall  prepare,  an  Holy  City,  that  my  people 
may  gird  up  their  loins,  and  be  looking  forth  for  the  time  of  my  com- 
ing; for  there  shall  be  my  tabernacle,  and  it  shall  be  called  Zion,  a 
New  Jerusalem." — "Book  of  Moses"  7:62. 

This  wonderful  prophecy  has  been,  and  is  still  being,  ful- 
filed  in  a  most  remarkable  manner;  not  alone  in  the  restoration 
of  the  gospel,  through  revelation  in  our  day,  and  in  the  coming 
forth  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  "out  of  the  earth,"  but  also  in 
the  recovery  from  the  ground  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  other 
monuments,  many  of  which  have  been  buried  in  the  earth  for  up- 
wards of  four  thousand  years,  and  now  testify  <>f  these  very  things 
so  clearly  predicted  by  the  inspired  prophet  and  seer  of  old.  Cities, 
temples  with  their  decorations  and  furnishings,  statues,  engrav- 


364  IMPROVEMENT   ERA 

ings,  carvings,  inscriptions,  and  even  great  libraries  of  "imperish- 
able" clay  tablets,  have  already  been  unearthed,  which  directly 
and  indirectly  bear  testimony  of,  and  go  to  prove  beyond  question, 
the  truths  revealed  in  the  Pearl  of  Great  Price,  as  well  as  those 
made  known  in  other  scriptures,  pertaining  to  the  great  work  of 
the  Latter-days.     Yes,  truly  do  many  of  these  monuments  and 
tablets  bear  record  of  the  fact  that  the  fundamental  truths  and 
principles  in  regard  to  the  Messiah  and  his  gospel  of  redemption 
and  salvation  were  a  common  heritage  of  mankind,  in  the  most 
primitive  ages  of  human  history.     They,  indeed,  show  that  there 
were  "actually"  people  among  the  primitve  nations  who  possessed 
by  far  clearer  and  more  consistent  ideas  of  the  Christ  and  his 
mission  than  the  great  majority  of  scholars  and  divines  of  modern 
Christendom.     Hence  the  great  commotion  in  "learned  circles" 
during  the  last  few  years  over  these  discoveries,  which,  after  all, 
were  often  only  the  slow  discovery  on  the  part  of  scholars  of 
their  own   lamentable   ignorance   in   regard   to  the   fundamental 
facts  of  ancient  history,  both  sacred  and  profane.    For  these  monu- 
ments also  prove,   and  the   fact  is  being  reconfirmed   and  em- 
phasized almost  daily,  by  newly  discovered  evidence,  that  the  art 
and  general  civilization  of  the  so-called  primitive  nations  were 
,  often  of  an  almost  infinitely  higher  order  than  had  even  been 
dreamed  of  by  the  evolutionists  and  "critics"  of  a  few  years  ago. 
Some  of  the  conclusions  and,  at  present,  more  hopeful  ten- 
dencies in  the  world  of  scholarship,  along  these  lines,  will  be 
indicated  somewhat  more  fully  by  quotations  given  below.     The 
authors  of  these,  with  two  or  three  exceptions,  will  to  many  need 
no    introduction.      They    are    already    known    the    world    over, 
wherever  the  subjects  upon  which  they  write  are  seriously  studied 
or  discussed.     They  represent,  therefore,  the  very  highest  degree 
of  present-day  learning  in  their  respective  lines,  at  any  rate,  it 
may  be  fair  to  say,  in  the  more  "conservative  circles."     True  it 
is,  however,  that  in  the  way  of  theory  and  assumption  they  have, 
fortunately  or  unfortunately,  according  to  one's  point  of  view,  not 
always  "seen  their  way  clear"  to  go  as  far  as  others,  whose  names 
may  be  found  among  the  "radicals." 

Of  course,  it  will  not  be  inferred  from  what  has  been  said 
above  that  the  writers  quoted  are  in  any  way  trying  to  establish 
the  truth  or  divinity  of  "Mormonism."  Absolutely  not !  As  a 
rule,  they  are  working  hard  to  prove  the  value  or  consistency  of 


the  beginnings  of  HUMAN   HISTORY  365 

something  very  different,  indeed.  Rut  this  makes  our  point  all 
the  stronger.  The  facts  are  at  hand,  and  do  what  men  will,  when 
these  are  duly  considered,  the  conclusions  naturally  and  inevitahly 
point  somewhere  nearly  in  the  direction  of  the  Truth.  Each 
raithor's  words,  however,  will  speak  for  themselves : 

"We  are  just  beginning  to  learn  how  ignorant  we  have  been  of 
the  civilized  past,  and  how  false  our  ideas  have  been  in  regard  to  it. 
We  are  but  just  beginning  to  realize  that  the  fragments  of  Hebrew 
literature,  contained  in  the  Old  Testament,  are  the  wrecks  of  a  vast 
literature  which  extends  over  the  ancient  oriental  world,  from  the 
remotest  epoch,  and  that  we  cannot  understand  them  aright  except 
in  the  light  of  the  contemporaneous  literature  of  which  they  formed 
a  part." — Sayce,  "Higher  Criticism  and  the  Monuments,"  p.  24. 

"We  cannot  emphasize  the  fact  too  strongly  that  Egyptian 
civilization  is  at  the  very  outset  full  grown.  So  far  as  the  monumpntal 
testimony  is  concerned,  it  has  neither  childhood  nor  you'h.  Every 
fresh  discovery  brings  out  the  fact  into  clearer  relief."  ***** 

"The  monumental  history  of  Egypt  gives  no  countenance  to  the 
fashionable  theories  of  today  which  derive  civilized  man,  by  a  slow 
process  of  evolution,  out  of  a  brute-like  ancestor.  On  the  contrary. 
ifs  testimony  points  in  an  opposite  direction:  the  history  of  Egypt, 
so  far  as  excavation  has  made  it  known  to  us,  is  a  history,  not  of 
evoluton  and  progress,  but  of  retrogression  and  decay." — Sayce,  arti- 
cle in  Hilprecht's  "Recent  Researches  in  Bible  Lands,"  p.  103. 

"We  are  faced  with  the  strange  but  undeniable  fact,  which  we 
also  find  in  studying  the  oldest  stone  vases  and  seal  cylinders,  that 
Babylonian  art,  4000  B.  C.  shows  a  knowledge  of  human  forms  an 
observation  of  laws  of  art,  and  a  neatness  and  fineness  of  execution, 
far  beyond  the  products  of  later  times.  The  flower  of  Babylonian 
art,  indeed,  is  found  at.  the  beginning  of  Babylonian  history." — Hil- 
precht,  Univ.  of  Penn.,  "Recent  Researches  in  Bible  Lands,''  p.  88. 

"In  Southern  Arabia  we  came  upon  traces  of  a  high  ptate  of 
civilization  at  a  very  early  period.  Evidence  of  this  is  supplied  by 
the  ruins  of  ancient  temples,  towns,  and  aqueducts,  and,  above  ail, 
by  the  numerous  inscriptions  which  still  survive." — Hommel.  "Ancient 
Hebrew  Traditions,"  p.  77. 

"The  high  standard  of  Hittite  culture,  as  revealed  by  their  own 
archives  and  monuments  at  the  dawn  of  their  history  in  the  fourteenth 
century  B.  C,  argues  in  itself  a  long  period  of  settlement  and  de- 
velopment under  civilized  conditions;  while  a  long  contact  with  the 
culture  of  the  Euphrates  valley  is  indicated  also  by  the  fact  that  their 
earliest  international  correspondence  was  conducted  in  the  Assyrio- 
Babylonian  language,  while  their  scribes  had  sufficient  intimacy  with 
the  cuneiform  system  of  writing  to  be  able  to  apply  it  to  their  own 
language,  which  was  radically  different.     The  great  deities  of  the  Hit- 


366  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

tite  pantheon  also  have  their  prototypes  in  Babylonia." — Gastrang, 
Univ.  of  Liverpool,  "The  Land  of  the  Hittites,"  p.  317. 

"They  reflect,  without  doubt,  the  early  Arabian  monotheism  of 
the  Assyrians,  for  nearly  all  of  the  deities  borrowed  from  the  Baby- 
lonian pantheon,  first  of  all  Ashur,  then  Bel,  Samos,  Marduk,  Nindar. 
and  Nirgal,  are  here  identified  with  the  ancient  Ai  or  Ya.  From  this 
it  is  at  once  apparent  that  Jonah's  mission  to  preach  Jehovah  to  the 
Ninevites  is  by  no  means  so  absurd  as  the  modern  "critics"  would 
have  us  think:  he  would  here  have  found  ready  to  his  hand  a  text 
for  his  sermon  not  a  whit  less  apposite  than  that  Athenian  altar  to 
'the  unknown  God,'  which  later  on  supplied  a  theme  to  St.  Paul." — 
Hommel,  "Ancient  Hebrew  Traditions,"  p.  145. 

"As  so  many  of  the  gods  could  be  identified  with  Marodack  and 
with  Ya;  it  is  probably  not  going  too  far  to  say  that,  to  the  initiated 
Babylonian  and  Assyrian,  Marodack  and  Ya  were  one  and  the 
same.''  ***** 

"The  fact  is,  all  these  gods  were  really  one."  ***** 

"It  is  many  years  since,  in  consequence  of  the  identification  of 
so  many  gods  with  Ya  or  Yau  (Heb.,  Jah)  (our  Jehovah),  I  had  come 
to  this  conclusion,  a  conclusion  which  I  am  now  in  a  position  to 
prove." — Pinches,  article  in  "Journal  of  Transmission  for  Victoria  In- 
stitute," pp.  8,  13. 

"There  is  hardly  any  doubt,  then,  that  we  have  here  the  long- 
sought  parallel  to  the  Biblical  "tree  of  knowledge,"  for  that,  too,  was 
in  the  domain  of  "the  lord  of  knowledge,"  the  God  Ae,  and  also  in 
the  land  which  might  be  described  as  that  of  "the  lord  of  Eden," 
the  "hidden  place  of  heaven  and  earth"  for  all  the  sons  of  Adam, 
who  are  no  longer  allowed  to  enter  into  that  earthly  Paradise  wherein 
their  first  parents  gained,  at  such  a  cost,  the  knowledge,  imperfect 
as  it  must  have  been,  and  evidently  undesirable,  which  they  handed 
down  to  their  successors." — Pinches,  'The  Old  Testament  in  the  Light 
of  the  Historical  Records  and  Legends  of  Assyria  and  Babylonia,"  p.  77. 

"All  heathen  peoples  have  preserved  the  idea  of  the  one  supreme 
God,  the  uncivilized  often  more  clearly  and  distinctly  than  the  civilized, 
wherefore  we  should  be  all  the  less  justified  in  assuming  this  fact 
to  be  the  result  of  their  own  thought  and  reflection." — Lueken,  "Die 
Traditionen  des  Menschengeschlechtes,"  p.  27. 

"These  inscriptions  prove  how  in  remote  ages  there  had  been 
drawn  up  various  legends  of  the  creation  of  the  world,  many  of  them 
presenting  thoughts  and  conceptions  of  the  work  of  the  creator  similar 
to  those  found  in  the  Hebrew  writings.  They  therefore  tend  to  show 
how  important  the  Priests  of  Chaldea  considered  it,  to  possess  among 
the  religious  documents  of  their  schools  of  theology  a  carefully  worded 
account  of  the  beginnings  of  all  things." — Boscowen,  F.  R.  H.  S.,  "The 
Bible  and  the  Monuments,"  p.  84. 

"But  they  (the  Babylonians)  occupied  themselves  with  special 
predilection  with  the  West,  i.  e.,  Phoenecio-Palestine,  and  we  repeat- 
ed1}- find   (in  "Hal  ylonirn  literature)   such  phrases  as:  when  such  and 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF   HUMAN   HISTORY  361 

such  happens,  then  will  a  great  king  arise  in  the  West,  then  will 
justice  and  righteousness,  peace  and  joy  reign  in  all  lands,  and  bring 
blessing  to  all  nations  (peoples  l,  and  other  similar  prophecies."  De- 
litzsch,  "Wo  las  das  Paradies?"  p.  133. 

I!  we  add  to  this  the  fact  that  in  Babylonian  names,  reference 
to  judgment. "  'raising  from  the  dead'  and  'forgiveness'  occur  with 
comparative  frequency,  it  would  ainost  seem  as  though  the  Baby- 
lonians had  possessed  a  deeper  sense  of  religion  than  the  Arabs." — 
Hommel,  "Ancient  Hebrew  Tradition,"  p.   87. 

"It  is  curious  in  these  hymns,  dating  back  certainly  to  the  twenty- 
fifth  century  before  the  Christian  era,  to  find  phrases  and  expressions 
almost  similar  to  those  used  by  the  Hebrew  psalmist.  The  discovery 
of  these  fragments  of  the  liturgy  of  the  temple  of  the  'great  light  tin 
Ur),  in  which  the  ancestors  of  Terah  and  Abram  worshiped,  is  a  very 
important  one,  for  the  monuments  now  show  that  the  city  of  Kharran 
(Harran)  in  North  Mesopotamia,  to  which  Abram  emigrated,  was  a 
colony  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  and  its  'temple  of  brightness'  an 
adjunct  of  the  mother-temple  of  Ur.  Perhaps  in  these  hymns  we  may 
trace  the  first  inspirations  of  the  songs  of  Zion." — Article  by  W.  St. 
Chad  Boscowen,  "Religious  Systems  of  the  World,"  London,  1905,  p.  19. 

"A  tithe  of  all  that  the  land  produced  was  theirs,  and  was  rigor- 
ously exacted,  for  the  support  of  the  temples  and  priests."  *  *  *  *  * 

"Why  it  should  have  been  a  tenth  we  cannot  say."  ***** 

"However  this  may  be,  the  tithe  became  a  marked  characteristic 
of  Babylonian  religious  life.  It  was  paid  by  all  classes;  even  the  king 
and  his  heir  were  not  exempt  from  it."— Sayce,  "The  Religions  of 
Ancient  Egypt  and  Babylonia,"  p.  469. 

"The  Babylonian  temple,  it  will  be  seen,  thus  closely  resembles 
the  temple  of  Solomon.  That,  too,  had  its  two  courts,  its  chambers 
for  the  priests,  its  sanctuary,  and  its  Holy  of  Holies.  Roth  alike  were 
externally  mere  rectangular  boxes,  without  architectural  beauty  or 
variety  of  design.  It  was  only  in  the  possession  of  a  tower  that  the 
Babylonian  temple  differed  from  that  of  the  Israelites.  They  agreed 
even  in  the  details  of  their  furniture.  The  two  altars  of  the  Baby- 
lonian sanctuary  are  found  again  in  the  temple  of  Jerusalem;  so,  too. 
are  the  mercy-seat  and  the  table  of  shewbread.  Even  the  bronze 
'sea'  of  Solomon,  with  its  twelve  oxen,  is  at  last  accounted  for."  ♦  * 

"It  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  by  the  many  points  of  similarity 
between  the  Babylonian  ritual  and  arrangement  of  the  temples  and 
that  which  existed  among  the  Israelites.  The  temple  of  Solomon,  in 
fact,  was  little  more  than  a  reproduction  of  a  Babylonian  sanc- 
tuary.'' ***** 

"The  internal  decoration  of  the  sanctuary,  moreover,  was  similar 
in  both  countries.  The  walla  were  made  gorgeous  with  enameled 
bricks,  or  with  plaques  of  gold  and  bronze  and  inlaid  stones.  Some 
times  they  were  painted  with  vermlllion,  the  monsters  of  the  Epic 
of  the  Creation  being  pictured  on  the  walls.  Bui  more  often  the 
painted  or  sculptured  figures  were,  as  at   Jerusalem,  those  of  cheru 


368  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

bim  and  the  sacred  true,  or  other  vegetable  devices." — Sayce,  "The 
Religions  of  Ancient  Egypt  and  Babylonia,"  pp.  459,  471. 

"We  now  see,  for  the  first  time  clearly,  the  obvious  relation  be- 
tween Abraham  and  the  conclusions  in  regard  to  the  religious  history 
of  the  Hebrews,  which  we  were  able  to  deduce,  in  chapter  III.,  from 
the  Arabian  personal  names  of  the  Khammurabi  dynasty.  They  form, 
as  it  were,  an  effective  background  to  his  history,  and  confirm,  in  a 
manner  which  is  little  short  of  marvelous,  the  accuracy  of  the  details 
supplied  by  Biblical  tradition  in  regard  to  the  Friend  of  God,  and  his 
escape  from  the  contagion  of  Babylonian  polytheism." 

"Nay,  more,  I  confidently  assert  that  all  the  traditions  concerning 
the  period  before  Joseph  (i.  e.,  of  the  Patriarchs,  including  the  primi- 
tive records  which  Abraham  brought  with  him  from  Chaldea),  which 
have  been  handed  down  to  us  in  Genesis,  in  various  recensions,  were 
even  at  that  time  current  among  the  Israelites,  and  that,  too,  in  a 
written  form." — Hommel,  "Ancient  Hebrew  Traditions,"  pp.   199,  296. 

"The  Mosaic  age,  therefore,  instead  of  being  an  illiterate  one, 
was  an  age  of  highly  literary  activity  and  education  through  the 
civilized  East.  Not  only  was  there  a  widespread  literary  culture  in 
both  Egypt  and  Babylonia,  which  had  its  roots  in  a  remote  past,  but 
this  culture  was  shared  by  Mesopotamia  and  Asia  Minor,  and  more 
especially  by  Syria  and  Palestine." 

"We  have  learned  many  things  of  late  years  from  archaeology, 
but  its  chiefest  lesson  has  been  that  the  age  of  Moses,  and  even  the 
age  of  Abraham,  was  almost  as  literary  an  age  as  our  own." — Sayce, 
"Monumental  Facts  and  Higher  Critical  Fancies,"  pp.  40,  43. 

To  these  quotations  might  be  added,  if  space  would  permit, 
a  number  of  others  that  equally  well  go  to  prove  the  soundness 
and  consistency  of  the  point  of  view  given  us  by  the  Pearl  of  Great 
Price  and  other  scriptures  which  have  been  revealed  in  this  dis- 
pensation. Enough,  however,  have  perhaps  been  given,  at  present, 
to  suggest,  at  least,  that  the  Latter-day  Saints  have  absolutely 
nothing  to  fear,  but  a  thousand  things  to  be  thankful  for,  in  the 
actual  results  of  this  so-called  modern  investigation  and  discovery. 

The  wordy  battle,  therefore,  which  has  been  raging  through- 
out Christendom,  during  the  last  half  century,  over  the  theories 
and  "dogmas''  of  skeptics  and  "critics,"  seems  only  to  have  been 
the  Lord's  method  of  clearing  the  intellectual  and  religious  at- 
mosphere of  the  world  of  an  immense  lot  of  its  cobwebs  and  dust, 
that  the  light  of  truth  might  the  better  reach  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  his  children.  The  misunderstandings  and  doubts  that  have 
been  raised  by  the  storm  will  no  doubt,  like  sand  and  ashes  thrown 
into  the  air,  gradually  settle  on  the  heads  of  those  who  caused 
them,  while  humanity,  except  in  individual  cases,  will  be  none 
the  worse  for  their  having  been. 


Letter  to  a  Missionary 

BY  ROSCOE  \\.   EARDLEY,  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS- 
BELUIUM    MISSION 


My  Dear  Brother:  A  week  since  you  left  us,  and  I  venture 
to  say  it  has  been  a  week  of  intense  interest  to  you,  perhaps  the 
most  interesting  you  have  experienced  in  your  life.  And  now 
you  are  in  Chattanooga,  not  in  fancy,  as  at  your  farewell,  but  in 
reality,  and  before  you  lies  a  broad  two  or  three  years'  mission. 
It  is  strange  to  you  now,  but  pregnant  with  wonderful  possibilities. 

The  manner  in  which  you  fulfil  this  mission  will  not  only 
determine,  in  some  measure,  your  own  destiny,  but  will  effect 
the  eternal  welfare  of  others.  How  wonderful  it  all  is,  and  how 
true.  As  you  work  through  this  mission,  you  will  realize  more 
than  ever  before  the  forcefulness  of  the  beautiful  counsel  given 
by  the  Savior  to  his  apostles :  "Be  ye  wise  as  serpents,  and  harm- 
less as  doves."  To  lead  others  to  walk  in  the  light,  even  as  you 
are  in  the  light,  by  means  of  faith,  kindness  and  love,  is  the  very 
happy  duty  now  before  you. 

As  you  stand  on  the  threshold  of  this  important,  divinely- 
appointed  work,  I  may  be  pardoned  for  offering  a  suggestion  or 
two,  that  will  perhaps  assist  you  in  your  labors : 

"We  learn  to  love  that  which  we  serve."  The  two  or  three 
years  that  you  spend  in  the  south  should  wonderfully  increase 
your  love  for  your  Heavenly  Father  and  his  children.  You  will 
be  asked  to  serve  him  and  them,  in  a  whole-souled  way  that  you 
will  ever  remember.  You  will  not  devote  just  a  part  of  your 
time,  but  all,  to  teaching  his  gospel.  You  will  talk  about  it  by 
day,  dream  of  it  by  night,  and  live  it  all  the  time.  And  as  your 
love  for  him  increases,  his  Spirit,  which  is  the  spirit  of  love,  will 
swell  up  within  you,  and  make  your  mission  very  happy,  even 
though  you  are  denied  some  of  the  pleasures  and  comforts  of  life. 

"We  appreciate  that  most  which  costs  us  the  greatest 
effort." 

Think  of  all  the  things  you  have  done  in  the  past.  Which 
fills  vour  soul  with  greatest  joyi>     Ts  it  not  the  thing  for  which 


♦Written  to  a  missionary  in  the  Southern  States  when  the  author  was 
bishop  of  the   Third    ward.   Salt    Lake   City. 


37D  IMPROVEMENT   ERA 

you  struggled  hardest?  Is  it  not  the  thing  for  which  you  fought 
the  good  fight,  and  won  the  victory  ?  Then,  as  difficulties  pre- 
sent themselves  to  you  each  day,  as  you  are  called  upon  to  pass 
through  trials  and  hardships,  remember  that  it  is  the  things  that 
cost  you  the  greatest  effort  that  you  will  remember  longest.  To 
illustrate,  when  you  return  home,  you  are  not  going  to  tell  us 
about  the  meal  that  you  received  the  first  time  you  asked,  but  you 
are  going  to  tell  us  of  the  experience  you  had  in  walking  over 
the  hot,  dusty  roads  all  through  the  long  summer's  day,  and 
asked  twenty  times  for  food,  and  each  time  you  were  refused. 
While  you  still  hungered  you  knelt  by  the  roadside,  or  crept  into 
the  deep  and  silent  woods,  to  pray.  You  asked  the  Lord  to  direct 
you  to  the  home  of  some  kind  person  who  would  administer  to 
your  wants,  and  then,  perhaps,  you  found  the  food  that  your 
stomach  craved,  and  the  bed  you  needed  to  rest  your  tired  and 
aching  body.  These  are  the  experiences  that  will  make  you  glow 
with  enthusiasm,  that  you  will  delight  to  tell.  They  are  the  kind 
that  will  develop  your  physical  powers  of  endurance,  and  that 
will  increase  your  faith.  They  will  help  to  strengthen  your  testi- 
mony that  God  lives,  and  that  he  hears  and  answers  your  prayers. 
These  experiences  will  teach  you  better  than  any  human  tongue 
that  "Whom  the  Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth." 

A  young  man  living  in  one  of  our  southern  stakes  one  day 
was  called  on  a  mission  to  Europe.  He  cheerfully  responded  to 
the  call;  he  left  his  beloved  mother  and  father,  his  dear  wife 
and  sweet  baby,  to  do  the  work  whereunto  the  Lord  had  called 
him.  When  he  arrived  in  the  mission  field,  he  found,  to  him,  a 
strange  land,  with  a  peculiar  people,  who  spoke  an  odd  language. 
For  weeks  and  weeks  he  struggled  to  master  that  language,  so 
that  he  might  perform  the  labors  required  of  him.  But  though 
he  struggled  with  all  his  might,  it  seemed  impossible  to  conquer. 
At  last,  one  night,  as  the  gloomy,  chilly,  foggy,  autumn  twilight 
settled  over  Schiedam,  he  felt  utter  discouragement  creep  over 
his  soul.  Downcast  and  disheartened,  he  decided  that  his  mis- 
sion was  vain,  his  time  was  lost,  he  could  not  master  the  tongue 
of  the  Dutch,  and  on  the  morrow  he  would  ask  for  his  release  and 
return  home.  Thoughts  of  wife,  baby,  parents,  crossed  his 
memory,  and  he  would  have  fled  to  them  in  the  fastnesses  of  the 
Rocky  mountains.  Night,  as  dark  as  his  foreboding  thoughts, 
closed  around  him,  and  he  did  return  home. 


LlOTTKK    TO    A    .MISSIONARY  371 

He  was  back  on  the  old  farm  with  father.  He  again  har- 
nessed to  the  big  farm  wagon  the  faithful  team  that  he  had 
driven  so  often  before.  He  climbed  upon  the  seat  beside  his 
father,  and  together  they  drove  away.  After  a  while  the  road 
led  to  the  foot  of  a  steep  mountain,  and  the  son  stopped  the  team, 
knowing  not  which  way  to  go,  save  back  over  the  road  they  had 
already  traveled.  "Drive  on,  my  son,  drive  on,"  said  the  father. 
"Uut,  we  cannot  go  on,"  said  the  boy,  "for  no  team  is  strong 
enough  to  pull  a  wagon  up  this  steep  mountain."  "Look,"  said 
the  father,  "can  you  not  see  that  the  grass  is  trampled  and  the 
sage  brush  broken?  Some  team  has  passed  this  way  before,  and 
in  all  this  county  there  is  no  better  team  than  ours." 

The  horses  were  started  again.  They  lay  to  in  the  harness, 
tightened  the  tugs,  planted  their  feet  firmly  for  a  hard  pull,  and 
they  climbed  the  steep  mountain.  When  the  summit  was  reached, 
the  son  looked  back;  after  all,  the  way  did  not  seem  so  steep, 
nor  the  effort  of  the  team  so  hard.  As  he  looked,  he  turned  to 
his  father  and  said — and  then  his  eyes  opened !  Father, 
horses,  mountain,  home — all  had  vanished,  and  between  him  and 
them  lay  a  mighty  ocean  and  a  vast  continent;  but  he  said,  "I 
will  ascend  the  mountain  before  me.  What  another  has  done,  I 
can  also  do.  I  will  stay.  I  will  master  this  language.  I  will 
perform,  honorably,  the  mission  to  which  God  has  called  me! 
He  will  give  me  strength.  With  his  power  to  help,  I  cannot 
fail." 

The  time  passed  so  quickly  that  it  seemed  only  a  day  or  two, 
but  in  reality  it  was  two  years,  when  this  same  young  man  stood 
in  a  large  hall  in  the  busy  city  of  Rotterdam,  and  told  over  600 
people  the  story  of  the  great  latter-day  prophet,  Joseph  Smith. 
So  wonderfully  had  he  succeeded  in  learning  the  language  of  the 
Hollanders,  and  so  abundantly  had  the  Lord  blessed  him,  that 
when  he  touchingly  related  the  story  of  the  martyrdom  of  that 
great  prophet,  not  only  sympathetic  women  but  strong  men  wept 
because  of  the  sympathy  that  filled  their  souls. 

Work  and  prayer  are  the  weapons  that  will  win  the  battle 
in  the  missionary  field. 

There  was  a  great  strike  raging  in  one  of  the  big  cities.  Ten 
thousand  men  had  walked  out  to  try  and  force  their  rights.  Ten 
thousand  larders  were  empty,  and  twice  ten  thousand  children 
were  crying  for  bread.     Mothers  were  bowed  down  with  sorrow, 


372  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

and  fathers  were  torn  with  anger,  because  their  children's  cry 
w  as  almost  in  vain. 

Elder  Harvey  Leigh  was  sad,  too.  No  one  in  that  great  city 
seemed  to  want  to  hear  his  story.  Why  was  he  there,  anyway? 
Would  he  not  be  happier  back  at  the  old  home  with  father  and 
mother,  and  enjoying  the  comforts  of  life?  His  thoughts  were 
leading  him  to  the  land  of  the  blues,  when  he  seemed  to  again 
hear,  ringing  in  his  ears,  the  eloquent  words  of  his  mission  presi- 
dent:  "Pray  and  work.     Work  and  pray." 

He  bowed  his  knees  and  poured  out  his  soul  to  his  Father, 
and  then  he  arose  and  went  to  work.  All  day  it  seemed  the  same, 
same  story.  No  one  cared  to  listen  to  him.  The  cry  was  bread, 
bread!  And  could  he  blame  the  people  for  uttering  this  soul- 
stirring  cry  ?  No,  a  thousand  times,  no.  And  yet,  if  the  message 
which  he  carried  was  received  by  men,  mankind  would  be  at  peace, 
and  all  would  have  bread.  Sooner  or  later  the  glad  tidings  which 
he  bore  would  bring  salvation  to  the  race,  and  he  was  one  of 
many  that  the  Lord  had  called  to  help  plant  the  truth  in  the  earth. 

And  so  he  worked. on.  When  night  came,  he  would  at  least 
feel  he  had  not  shirked  his  duty.  His  conscience  would  be  void 
of  offense  before  his  Maker,  and  sweet  sleep  could  enfold  him 
with  her  kind  embrace. 

As  the  shades  of  evening  began  to  fall,  he  met  three  persons 
— two  women  and  a  man,  all  three  belonging  to  different  faiths — 
and  at  first  all  three  repulsed  him  with  great  bitterness,  accusing 
him  of  being  an  emissary  sent  from  the  capitalists  to  soothe  the 
feelings  of  the  strikers.  Finally,  however,  he  made  them  under- 
stand who  he  really  was,  and  the  nature  of  his  work,  but  his 
being  a  "Mormon"  did  not  help  him  very  much  in  the  presence 
of  the  three  listeners. 

Then  he  remembered  that  he,  too,  had  gone  the  entire  day 
without  food.  In  this  he  and  his  listeners  stood  on  common 
ground.  The  missionary  took  the  opportunity  to  explain  how 
"Mormon"  missionaries  often  travel  without  purse  or  scrip,  de- 
pending upon  the  people  entirely  for  food  and  shelter,  and  he 
concluded,  "Even  this  night,  I  do  not  know  from  whence  my 
evening  meal  will  come,  or  whether  it  will  come  at  all." 

This  part  of  the  missionary's  message  appealed  to  one  of  the 
three,  and  she  said,  "I  believe  you  speak  the  truth,  and  I  still  have 
in  the  house  one  loaf  of  bread.     If  you  will  come  in,  I  will  gladly 


LETTER    TO    A    MISSIONARY  371 

share  it  with  you."  The  young  elder  did  not  think  it  necessary 
to  share  this  last  loaf,  preferring  to  go  without  himself,  rather 
than  take  the  last  in  the  house,  when  his  friend  did  not  know 
where  the  next  was  coming  from ;  but  he  did  give  her  more  than 
she  offered  him — he  was  able  to  feed  her  with  the  bread  of 
eternal  life. 

The  strike  is  over  now  and,  with  the  other  cares  of  life, 
almost  forgotten ;  but  there  are  two  persons  who  will  remember 
forever  at  least  one  happy  hour  during  that  unhappy  strike. 

Now,  my  dear  elder,  you  have  been  sent  to  the  Southern 
States  because  there  is  a  work  there  for  you  to  do.  You  have  the 
ability  to  do  that  work.  No  one  else  can  do  it  for  you.  If  you 
do  not  do  it,  it  will  never  be  done.  The  Lord  expects  you  to  start 
today  and  do  a  little,  and  then  a  little  more  tomorrow,  and  a 
little  every  day.  until  your  president  says  that  it  is  enough,  and 
then  there  will  be  work  for  you  elsewhere,  always  and  forever. 

May  you  be  blessed  with  God's  Holy  Spirit  to  guide  you,  that 
you  may  keep  well  and  strong,  that  you  may  use  wisdom  and  dis- 
cretion in  all  things,  is  the  prayer  of  your  brother  in  the  gospel. 

Salt  Lake  Citt,  Utah. 


Elder  C.  Byron  Whitney,  writing  from  South  Africa,  says:  "On 
Friday,  November  10,  President  Gottlieb  Blatter,  of  the  Transvaal 
conference,  in  company  with  Elders  Elmer  P.  Chipman  and  C.  Byron 
Whitney,  now  laboring  in  the  Johannesburg  branch  of  the  conference, 
visited  Pretoria,  where  they  had  been  invited  to  address  a  local  so- 
ciety of  Evolutionists,  on  the  subject  of  "Mormonism."  In  spite  of 
stormy  weather,  a  good,  if  not  large,  audience  greeted  the  elders,  and 
to  recompense  for  the  lack  of  members,  all  seemed  to  have  come  with 
an  honest  desire  to  learn  the  truth  and  gain  a  correct  idea  of  the 
subject  under  discussion.  The  elders  occupied  more  than  an  hour, 
and  after  each  speech  applause  of  approval  followed.  The  time  was 
given  over  to  questions  and  answers,  all  of  which  were  asked  and 
answered  to  the  approval  and  satisfaction  of  those  present.  In  his 
closing  remarks,  the  chairman,  commenting  upon  President  Blatter's 
answer  to  the  question,  Where  is  God?  took  occasion  to  remind  the 
audience  how  often  great  and  troublesome  questions  could  be  an- 
swered in  a  most  simple  manner.  Hearty  thanks  were  tendered  the 
elders,  with  an  invitation  to  address  the  society  at  future  dates.  After 
the  meeting,  friendly  words  and  hand-shakes  were  exchanged  by  the 
members  and  the  elders.  The  prevailing  sentiment,  as  expressed  by 
the  chairman,  was  that  they  would  now  know  how  much  to  believe  of 
the  stories  circulated  about  our  Church  and  people.  The  evening 
closed  with  a  great  victory  for  the  truth,  and  the  elders  believe  that 
many  friends  were  made  for  the  work  of  the  Lord  in  that  city." 


Health  Topics 

BY  DR.   SAMUEL  J.  RUSSELL 


Nor  love,  nor  honor,  wealth  nor  power, 

Can  give  the  heart  a  cheerful  hour 
When  Health  is  gone.     Be  timely,  wise, 

With   Health,   all   taste  of   pleasure   flies. 

There  are  three  elements  of  success,  sound  mind,  sound 
morals,  sound  body. 

A  sound  body  may  be  an  inheritance,  or  it  may  be  acquired 
by  obedience  to  certain  rules  of  health.  One  is  never  too  old  to 
form  new  habits.  One  can  form  the  habit  of  health ;  which  is 
much  better  than  the  mere  possession  of  it.     Those  who  inherit 

it  seldom  appreciate  it.    A  person  should 
be   alert  for  the   new   idea  or  the   new- 
application  of  the  old  one,  in  matters  of 
health  as  in  everything  else. 
^j*. ■•'  ^^^  If  we  do  not  take  the  time  to  keep 

^^A*.  jfl     ^^^       well,   we    may  have   to  take    time   to  be 
ifll  R     sick,  or  at  least  be  less  efficient  at  our 

M  W/rM  work.      Disease   is    not    due    to   the    dis- 

W  aM  pleasure  of  God ;  but  is  the  result  of  the 

natural  law  of  sowing  and  reaping. 

Dr.  Samuel  J.  Russell  SkkneSS    in    most    Cases    is    the    COn- 

sequence,  directly  or  indirectly,  of  the  violation  of  nature's  laws, 
and  health  when  once  lost  is  hard  to  regain.  We  cannot  lay  down 
any  fixed  rule  of  health,  as  no  one  attitude  of  mind  spells  health 
for  all. 

All  that  I  will  attempt  to  do  is  to  point  out  a  few  facts. 
Health  is  that  condition  when  the  body  can  be  least  thought  of. 
The  modern  idea  is  prevention.  We  should  treat  our  diseases 
before  we  get  them. 

We  should  develop  a  store  of  vital  resistance  and  acquire  a 
stock  of  vital  energy  that  will  combat  the  onslaught  of  the  disease 
microbe.  Germs  are  not  attracted  to  healthy  people.  Disease  is 
contagious  to  a  weakened  organism  only. 

I  might  relate  here  the  case  of  my  assistant.     He  had  spent 


HEALTH    TOPICS  375 

the  greater  part  of  his  life  at  school  and  hard  study,  and  although 
his  body  was  in  a  weakened  and  run-down  condition,  was  deter- 
mined to  enter  Cook  county  hospital  as  interne.  I  advised  strongly 
against  it,  telling  him  that  he  would  do  better  if  he  would  go  into 
country  practice  for  a  while  and  give  his  body  time  to  become 
strong  in  the  country  air  and  sunlight,  and  then  return  to  Cook 
county  later.  But  he  was  ambitious,  and  disregarded  my  advice, 
entering  the  hospital,  and  after  being  there  a  few  months,  con- 
tracted tuberculosis  and  was  compelled  to  go  to  the  country  a 
diseased  man,  when,  if  he  had  yielded  to  advice,  he  could  have 
prevented  what  came  to  him. 

Let  us  consider  just  a  few  rules  of  health.  Proper  breath- 
ing, sunlight,  diet,  bathing,  rest,  relaxation,  simplicity,  self-control, 
optimism,  happy  disposition,  and  a  clear  conscience. 

If  we  would  have  well  developed  lungs  (which  are  the  corner 
stones  of  good  health),  we  must  breathe  properly,  for  oxygen  must 
enter  the  lungs  in  great  quantity  if  we  would  have  pure  blood  ;  and 
we  must  exercise  if  we  would  have  good  circulation  of  that 
blood,  which  carries  the  food  for  tissue  construction. 

Exercise  so  vigorously  that  the  heart  increases  its  beat.  The 
glow  of  bodily  warmth  is  felt,  the  eye  brightens  and  the  face 
flushes.  Torpid  circulation  is  at  the  bottom  of  every  known 
disease.  It  has  been  said  that  there  is  but  one  disease,  congestion, 
and  there  is  but  one  cure,  free  circulation. 

This  is  true  in  the  early  stages,  before  actual  degeneration  of 
tissue  has  taken  place.  Shallow  breathers  are  usually  downcast 
and  despondent.  Systematic  deep  breathers  seldom  suffer  much 
from  melancholia  or  despondency.  Deep  breathers  are  usually 
deep  thinkers.  When  you  are  tired,  put  down  your  book,  or  work, 
stand  before  an  open  window,  slowly  fill  the  lungs  twenty-five 
times,  when  again  taking  up  your  book  vou  will  find  that  you 
have  acquired  a  new  stock  of  energy.  The  powers  of  attention 
have  been  awakened. 

Deep  breathing  aids  digestion,  promotes  the  action  of  the 
liver,  helps  the  stomach  in  emptying  itself,  and  is  also  a  great 
aid  to  the  normal  action  of  the  bowels.  Learn  to  sit  properly. 
Sit  on  the  end  of  the  spine,  and  not  on  a  point  four  inches  above 
it.  The  majority  of  men  you  meet  carry  themselves  in  a  careless 
manner,  walk  with  their  chests  flat  and  heads  forward,  instead 
of  the  head  erect  and  the  chest  thrown  out. 


376  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

Those  who  half  breathe,  half  live.  Most  people  forget  that 
they  spend  one-third  of  their  lives  in  the  bedroom.  Sleep  is  na- 
ture's great  restorer,  and  there  should  be  regular  periods  for  rest 
and  sound  sleep.  Be  sure  that  there  is  not  only  fresh  air,  but  a 
circulation  of  air  in  the  bedroom,  also  that  plenty  of  sunshine- 
enters  the  room  during  the  day,  as  sunshine  is  almost  instan- 
taneously fatal  to  disease  germs.  The  same  ray  of  sunlight  which 
is  essential  for  the  health  of  the  human  body  is  fatal  to  the  tuber- 
culosis germ,  the  cause  of  the  white  plague.  How  urgent  it  is 
that  offices  and  the  abodes  of  men  should  be  so  arranged  as  to 
give  free  access  to  the  glorious  sunlight. 

Cultivate  the  habit  of  regular  water-drinking.  With  regard 
to  eating,  do  you  like  it,  and  does  it  like  you  ?  If  these  two  agree, 
then  it  is  all  right.  It  is  not  so  much  what  we  eat.  but  lw:^  we 
eat  it.  Soft,  sloppy  foods,  as  soups,  mushes,  and  cereals,  which 
have  absorbed  all  tko  moisture  they  are  capable  of  absorbing  be- 
fore being  eaten,  are  a  menace  rather  than  a  help  to  the  stomach. 
I  strongly  advocate  dry  foods,  and  such  materials  taken  into  the 
stomach  as  will  call  forth  work  on  the  part  of  that  organ,  thereby 
giving  its  glands  and  muscular  coats  exercise,  which  is  absolutely 
essential  to  the  life  and  development  of  all  organs  and  functions 
of  the  body. 

The  pernicious  habit  of  mush  and  milk  for  breakfast  should 
be  discontinued,  and  in  its  place  such  good  substantial  foods  as 
meat  and  vegetables,  bread  and  butter,  etc.,  and  other  nitrogenous 
products  that  produce  energy  when  taken  into  the  stomach. 

If  the  stomach  is  pampered  with  the  use  of  easily-digested 
foods,  such  as  milk,  beef  tea,  and  peptonized  foods,  the  organ 
soon  becomes  weak  and  flabby,  and  is  not  capable  of  digesting 
substantial  food.  We  would  be  a  weak  race  physically  if  we 
were  to  eat  only  easily  digested  foods.  Students  should  not  study 
immediately  after  meals,  as  they  often  suffer  from  indigestion  by 
so  doing. 

No  one  but  a  physician  can  know  how  much  regular,  healthful 
bathing  is  neglected  by  the  people.  Comparatively  few  compre- 
hend the  disease-dangers  that  follow  the  neglect  of  proper  bath- 
ing. The  neglect  of  regular  bathing  produces  a  debilitated 
condition  of  the  skin,  and  weakens  the  body,  which  renders  the 
individual  a  constant  victim  of  colds,  etc.     There  should  be  vig- 


HEALTH   TOPICS  377 

orous  frictional  bathing,  lor  by  that  only  we  can  clean  away  the 
clogging  of  the  pores  of  the  body. 

The  practice  of  using  public  towels  is  responsible  for  the 
spread  of  many  diseases,  it  should  be  one  of  the  fixed  habits  of 
life  to  wash  the  hands  before  eating.  1  had  a  clinical  case,  of  a 
strong,  healthy-looking  conductor,  who  had  contracted  that  dread 
disease,  tuberculosis,  by  the  constant  habit  of  eating  his  lunch 
without  having  washed  his  hands.  Dirty  finger  nails  harbor  the 
germs  of  pus  infection.  Don't  take  drugs  for  sleeplessness ;  take 
a  bath.  Cold  baths  in  the  morning  raise  the  level  of  our  mental 
activity,  wake  us  up,  and  increase  our  supply  of  energy. 

Do  not  make  the  mistake  of  wearing  underclothes  or  other 
garments  at  night,  which  have  been  worn  during  the  day,  as 
undergarments  worn  during  the  day  are  saturated  with  impurities 
from  the  body,  and  these  impurities  are  reabsorbed  into  the  sys- 
tem, and  cause  auto-intoxication.  Great  care  should  be  taken  to 
arrange  the  garments  worn  during  the  day  so  that  at  night  they 
may  be  thoroughly  aired.  Light  night  garments  should  be  the 
property  of  every  one,  especially  when  traveling.  These  garments 
can  be  made  of  pongee  silk,  or  other  light  material,  which  can  be 
easily  carried  in  a  small  hand  bag. 

Underwear  and  outer  garments  should  be  changed  according 
to  the  season  and  temperature  from  day  to  day.  Much  energy 
is  squandered  by  wearing  too  heavy  clothing.  The  clothing  should 
be  made  of  light  material,  sufficiently  warm  to  keep  the  body  at 
its  normal  temperature.  While  it  is  important  not  to  overclothe 
the  body  while  indoors,  it  is  equally  important  not  to  underclothe 
it  when  going  out  into  the  cold. 

There  is  one  unpardonable  sin  in  dress,  and  that  is  unclean- 
liness.  A  dirty  collar  and  unclean  finger  nails  have  been  known 
to  turn  the  tide  of  success  back  toward  failure.  Even  though  your 
clothing  be  old  and  well  worn,  you  can  be  neat  by  keeping  it  well 
brushed,  free  from  spots  and  specks.  Your  handkerchief  should 
be  always  as  clean  as  your  hands,  and  they  as  clean  as  soap  and 
water  can  keep  them. 

A  man  must  study  his  personal  appearance  if  he  would  climb 
the  ladder  of  success,  as  it  takes  more  than  ability,  enthusiasm,  or 
self-faith  to  make  life  a  success.  These  things  are  essential,  but 
it  takes  personal  appearance  and  tact   t<>  impress  our  characters 


378  IMPROVEMENT   ERA 

upon  the  minds  of  others.  If  we  would  go  to  the  front  we  must 
not  disregard  any  one  of  these  little  things. 

A  man's  value  to  society  depends  largely  upon  his  discovering 
and  developing  his  special  talent.  The  act  of  thinking  has  always 
been  connected  with  some  activity  of  the  body.  Thought  precedes 
all  action;  as,  for  instance,  a  man  thinks  of  running,  the  nerve 
center  in  the  brain  sends  more  blood  to  the  legs,  therefore  the 
muscles  of  the  legs  get  an  increased  supply  of  it.  A  man  has  an 
uneasy  sensation  in  the  locality  of  his  heart,  and  thinks  he  has 
heart  disease,  when  in  reality  it  is  nothing  more  than  a  slight  at- 
tack of  indigestion,  as  the  stomach  dilated,  pressing  against  the 
heart,  sometimes  produces  the  symptoms  of  trouble  in  that  organ. 
Upon  reading  the  advertisements  in  the  newspapers  he  finds  such 
symptoms  enumerated  as  a  slight  constriction  about  the  chest, 
slight  pain  upon  deep  breathing,  palpitation  of  the  heart  upon 
vigorous  evercise,  and  he  at  once  decides  that  he  has  heart  trouble. 
He  begins  to  worry  about  it,  and  in  the  end  his  thinking  really 
affects  his  condition. 

The  way  to  keep  well  is  in  right  thinking  about  one's  self. 
The  secret  of  deliverance  from  worry  is  self-control.  Beware  of 
health  manuals,  as  no  man  can  stand  the  constant  contemplation 
of  himself  and  his  own  ailments.  Unhealthy  organs  are  of  less 
importance  than  an  unhealthy  mind.  A  diseased  heart  or  lung 
may  have  less  effect  upon  the  health  of  the  body  than  a  morbid 
mind.     Don't  turn  your  thoughts  inward,  but  outward. 

When  there  is  real  pain,  it  is  nature  crying  for  assistance,  and 
it  should  receive  attention,  from  one  who  knows,  but  don't  take 
drugs  unless  prescribed  by  a  competent  physician.  Keep  your 
mind  peaceful  and  your  conscience  clear.  All  phases  of  fear, 
anxiety,  worry,  and  despondency,  influence  the  physical  health. 

Briefly  summed  up,  vital  resistance  is  secured  by  living  a 
simple  and  obedient  life.  Study  diligently  to  find  God's  will 
concerning  you,  and  then  faithfully  live  up  to  your  light.  Physical 
strength  of  character,  alike  with  moral,  is  formed  by  overcoming 
obstacles,  not  by  avoiding  them.  Let  us  not  forget  the  great 
responsibility  that  attaches  to  us  in  the  wonderful  fact  of  the 
possession  of  life  and  our  duty  in  directing  our  lives,  so  that  they 
may  be  used  for  the  greatest  glory  of  God,  and  the  greatest  good 
of  man. 

Chicago,  III. 


Little  Problems  of  Married  Life* 


BY  WILLIAM   GEORGK   JORDAN 


VII. — Marriage  Success  on  Business  Lines. 

Matrimony  is  the  greatest  business  in  the  world.  It  employs 
the  largest  number  of  people,  for  the  longest  period  of  time,  and 
has  the  bulk  of  the  world's  capital  invested  in  it.  Most  of  the 
other  business  enterprises  are  held  in  trust  for  this  one.  They  are 
tributary  to  it,  feeders  to  it,  providers  for  it,  preparers  for  it. 

There  is  no  faintest  shadow  of  irreverence  in  calling  matri- 
mony a  business,  no  slightest  tinge  of  disrespect  to  its  sweetness, 
its  sacredness,  its  sentiment,  its  poetry  or  its  possibilities.  .Mar- 
riage is  the  greatest  business,  for  it  keeps  busy  most  of  the  people. 
In  its  perfection  and  in  its  ideal,  it  means  two  living  at  their 
highest  and  best  as  individuals  and  in  united  harmony.  It  is  con- 
secrated duality  in  unity.  It  means  life  partnerships  of  two  in 
the  pursuit  of  happiness.  The  most  important  business  should 
be  conducted  on  business  lines.  There  should  be  constant,  con- 
centrated effort  to  make  it  a  success.  Success  comes  not  only  from 
drifting,  but  wisely  working. 

If  men  and  women  put  into  their  married  life  the  same 
seriousness  of  thought,  intensity  of  purpose,  patience,  sacrifice 
and  determination  to  make  it  a  success  that  they  devote  to  seeking 
to  make  a  business  prosper,  the  world  would  be  transformed. 
Failures  would  be  few ;  divorce,  the  bankruptcy  of  matrimony, 
would  be  rare  and  the  two  could  command  success  by  their  united 
determination  to  win  it. 

Success  in  matrimony  is  in  reality  a  far  simpler  problem  than 
success  in  business.  In  the  commercial  world,  sometimes,  despite 
his  finest  foresight,  his  wisest  plans,  his  keenest  judgment,  a  man 
may  have  bravely  to  face  defeat,  knownig  he  has  done  his  best. 
Those  whom  he  has  trusted  may  betray :  some  new  invention  may 
suddenly  supersede  his  valuable  machinery  and  degrade  it  to  the 
rank  of  mere  metal.  A  financial  cyclone  may  wreck  in  an  hour 
the  towering  strength  of  years  of  toil  and  effort  and  str  ig 


"Copyright,  1910,  by  Fleming  H,  ReveH  Company. 


380  IMPROVEMENT   ERA 

powerful  competitor  by  cruel  tactics  may  ruin  him.  He  may  be 
engulfed  in  the  maelstrom  of  another's  failure. 

lu  business  he  is  dependent  on  people  he  cannot  always  con- 
trol, on  conditions  he  cannot  always  master.  But  success  in 
marriage  depends  finally  and  solely  on  the  two  themselves.  It 
is  not  what  they  have  but  what  they  are,  not  what  comes  to  them 
but  how  they  meet  it,  that  counts.  Sickness,  sorrow,  trial,  mis- 
fortune and  poverty  may  even  make  them  nearer  and  dearer  to 
each  other,  in  truer  union  and  finer  unity.  What  they  suffer  for 
each  other  and  with  each  other  brings  them  closer  together ;  what 
they  suffer  from  each  other  gradually  forces  them  apart. 

Man  does  not  expect  to  succeed  in  business  by  merely  starting 
it  and  honoring  it  with  the  sunshine  of  his  presence.  He  realizes 
it  is  not  an  automatic  music  machine  where  he  has  merely  to  put 
on  a  success  record,  start  the  mechanism,  and  then  sit  back  com- 
fortably and  delight  his  ears  with  the  music  of  prosperity.  If 
he  wants  dividends  of  success  he  must  pay  the  assessments  of 
effort.  If  we  want  real  lasting  harmony  and  melody  in  married 
life  we  must  make  our  own  music.  It  means  the  collaboration 
of  two,  never  the  lonely  contribution  of  one. 

In  business  when  problems  arise  a  man  seeks  to  solve  them ; 
if  inharmonies  threaten  to  destroy  his  success  he  seeks  to  remove 
them  :  if  one  method  fails  he  tries  another.  He  does  not  let  things 
drift  or  work  themselves  out  some  way  ;  he  knows  it  is  his  business 
to  find  out  where  things  are  wrong  and  how  he  can  right  them  ; 
he  does  not  shut  his  eyes  to  troubles  and  think  he  is  curing  them 
by  obscuring  them.  Men  are  often  blind,  or  resigned  in  a  cow- 
ardly way,  to  unpleasant  conditions  in  the  home  partnership  that 
they  would  never  surrender  to  in  their  office  business.  They  often 
accept  as  inevitable  in  their  home  life  what  they  could  change  if 
they  only  would.  It  is  unjust  to  both  for  the  hsuband  or  wife  to 
accept  any  wrong  conditon.  if  any  amount  of  effort  will  set  it 
right.  When  all  methods  fail,  bearing  bravelv  may  be  moral 
strength :  before  they  have  been  even  tested,  bearing  meekly  is 
sheer  weakness. 

There  are  people  who  fan  themselves  into  serene  self-satis- 
faction with  the  thought  that  they  are  heroically  accepting  the 
shadows  and  shallows  of  married  life,  its  preventable  pain,  sor- 
row and  discord,  when  they  are  really  only  too  lazy  mentally  or 
inert  morally  to  take  a  bold,  firm  stand  to  win  the  freedom  of 


LITTLE    PROBLEMS    OF    MARRIED    LIFE  381 

thought,  harmony  and  peace  they  desire.  It  is  not  patient  toler- 
ance, fine  forgiving  and  forgetting,  gentle  bearing  and  hopeful 
waiting.  It  is  a  false  resignation  that  their  reverence  for  the 
clinking  approval  of  the  cash  register  would  not  permit  them  to 
tolerate  in  their  business  down-town.  They  are  not  considering 
matrimony  as  a  business  they  must  make  succeed;  they  are  de- 
grading it  to  the  gamble  class.  They  have  the  assumed  airy  in- 
difference of  a  man  who  has  drawn  a  blank  in  a  lottery  and  is 
trying  hard  to  forget  it.  They  are  not  seeking  to  make  the  best 
of  some  phase  of  married  life,  for  this  implies  direct,  consecrated, 
purposeful  effort ;  but  they  are  becoming  resigned  to  the  worst 
of  it.  It  is  a  brand  of  hopelessness  that  does  not  deserve  a  hero 
medal. 

There  are  little  rifts  in  the  lute  of  happiness  in  married  life, 
that,  unnoted  or  uncorrected,  widen  with  the  months  and  years 
until  the  music  of  love,  sweetness,  tenderness  and  comradeship 
becomes  mute.  So  little  might  have  saved  the  situation  in  the 
beginning.  There  are  trifling  differences  and  discords  that  a  few 
moments  ©f  listening,  a  few  moments  of  kindly  wisdom,  confer- 
ence and  explanation  might  set  right.  But  foolish  pride  may 
deter  and  a  heart  is  wounded ;  unrest,  vague  misunderstanding, 
chafing  protest  and  blighting  suspicion  dethrone  confidence,  and 
a  sad  growing  apart  may  darken  the  years.  They  manage  these 
matters  better  in  business.  The  conditions  are  different,  the  ele- 
ments are  not  identical,  but  the  principles  are  the  same. 

When  an  excited  customer  enters  a  business  house  with  some 
grievance,  real  or  fancied,  parades  a  schedule  of  wrongs  and  in- 
justices as  long  as  a  tariff  bill  and  starts  in  on  a  high-keyed 
monologue  or  protest,  exploding  epithets  of  denunciation  and 
filling  the  air  with  sparks  of  phrases  sulphurous  with  indignation, 
the  wise  man  of  business  remains  cool  and  calm.  The  temptation 
to  become  emotionally  overheated  and  to  match  sarcasm  with  sar- 
casm he  resists.  He  realizes  that  by  losing  his  temper  he  may  lose 
a  customer,  that  it  would  be  unwise,  it  would  not  pay.  He  waits 
patiently  for  a  comma  of  intermission,  a  slight  slackening  in  the 
cascading  torrent  of  speech. 

He  smiles  apologies,  he  presses  the  soft  pedal  of  expression, 
he  explains,  defers,  conciliates.  He  argues  gently,  appeals  to 
reason,  to  justice,  to  pride ;  he  seeks  to  create  an  atmosphere  of 
cordiality.    He  feels  a  pleasing  glow  of  triumph  in  the  conscious- 


382  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

ness  that  he  has  met  an  unpleasant  situation  wisely,  calmed  the 
angry  waters  by  the  oil  of  his  tact  and  perhaps  converted  an  irri- 
tated customer  into  almost  a  friend. 

He  has  mastered  his  mood  for  dollars.  Why  does  he  not  try 
the  same  method  at  home?  Why  does  he  not  answer  gently  the 
first  few  words  of  a  discord  there,  disarm  the  sting  of  a  sarcasm 
by  a  smile,  forego  the  victory  of  his  logical  position  by  a  word 
of  tenderness  or  a  caress,  that  gives  him  a  finer  triumph  through 
a  sweet  appeal  to  sentiment,  the  logic  of  the  heart?  The  phrase 
that  irritated  him  to  retort  still  more  bitter  may  have  been  un- 
intentional, unweighted  with  the  meaning  he  ascribes  to  it.  It 
may  have  been  only  the  expression  of  her  physical  nervousness, 
the  strain  of  a  day  of  hard  duties,  vague  longing,  repressed 
weariness,  worry,  an  unmastered  pain  of  grief  manifesting  them- 
selves in  a  way  she  did  not  intend  or  hardly  knew.  It  is  as  a 
sigh  sometimes  creeps  up  from  the  heart  to  the  lips  without  our 
knowing  just  why  it  came  or  how  much  it  meant.  She  really 
needed  sympathy,  and  sweetness,  and  soothing,  and  comfort — 
understanding  not  condemnation. 

When  a  man  finds  that  he  and  his  business  partner  do  not 
agree,  when  friction  intensifies  and  they  do  not  confer  and  plan 
together  as  of  old,  he  does  not  storm  and  rage  and  fume  and  thus 
widen  their  separation.  He  does  not  build  up  a  solid  wall  of 
coldness  and  silence  and  studied  indifference.  He  waits  for  an 
opportune  moment,  nerves  himself  to  be  easy,  gracious  and  kindly, 
and,  without  anger  or  blame,  talks  fully,  frankly  and  freely.  He 
says  in  a  tone  that  will  not  make  his  partner  feel  that  he  is  being 
put  through  the  third  degree: 

"We  do  not  seem  to  have  struck  it  right  somehow  recently; 
we  are  on  the  wrong  trail ;  we  are  drifting  and  we  must  find  our 
way  back.  We  are  in  this  business  together  to  make  it  a  success ; 
it  needs  us  both ;  we  need  each  other.  There  is  something  wrong 
somehow.  I  may  be  at  fault  or  you  may  be  to  blame,  perhaps 
neither  of  us  is  cut  out  for  an  archangel.  Let  us  talk  it  all  over 
quietly  and  see  if  we  can  get  our  bearings ;  let  us  call  a  new  deal 
and  start  all  over."  There  is  a  manly,  honest,  business  ring  to 
this  and  if  any  hope  of  unity  remain  this  spirit  of  conference  will 
reveal  it. 

But  there  may  be  in  his  home  firm  a  little  woman  who  realizes 
that  they  too  are  drifting-.     She  knows  down  in  her  heart  that 


-   LITTLE   PROBLEMS    OF    MARRIED   LIFE  383 

she  loves  him  and  she  needs  him  and  that  he  loves  her,  but  some- 
how little  discords  are  separating  them.  The  song  dies  on  her 
lips  when  she  is  working  in  the  little  home  that  once  was  their 
heaven,  and  there  is  a  moisture  comes  in  her  eyes  that  dims  them 
but  does  not  bring  the  relief  of  real  tears.  It  seems  as  though  she 
were  in  a  fog,  and  she  has  lost  her  bearings,  and  the  love-laden 
craft  of  their  happiness  has  somehow  slipped  from  its  moorings 
in  the  silence  and  the  dark  and  is  drifting  far  out  to  the  great 
open  sea.  And  she  feels  hopeless  and  helpless,  she  wants  to  do 
the  right  thing  but  she  does  not  know  what  she  should  do  or  say 
that  will  be  right.  They  are  just  drifting,  and  she  is  tired  and 
worn,  heart-sick  and  heart-hungry,  and  she  wants  to  be  comforted 
by  loving  arms  as  we  soothe  a  frightened,  sobbing  child.  She 
cannot  find  her  way  back — alone. 

If  the  husband,  so  wise  in  his  office,  were  to  transplant  his 
business  wisdom  to  the  home,  he  could  bring  back  the  atmosphere 
of  the  old  courtship  days  in  a  single  hour.  Seeking  not  the  blame 
of  either  but  the  happiness  of  both,  with  no  shadow  of 
recrimination,  he  could  tell  her  sweetly,  seriously  and  calmly, 
with  the  occasional  punctuation  mark  of  a  caress  or  a 
gentle  pressure  of  the  hand,  that  they  need  each  other  and 
they  have  somewhere  stumbled  on  a  wrong  trail  and  must 
go  back  together  hand  in  hand  to  find  the  right  path,  and  they 
will  get  light  and  love  from  each  other  and  they  will  forgive  and 
forget  and  they  too  will  "have  a  new  deal  and  begin  all  over." 
The  resulting  happiness  is  foreordained.  It  is  merely  business 
wisdom.  It  is  consecrated  common  sense,  bringing  the  two  home 
partners  closer  together  and  inspiring  the  home  firm  with  new 
life,  courage  and  confidence. 

Success  in  business  life  demands  constant  watchfulness,  wis- 
dom and  work.  No  business  thrives  on  neglect.  Like  a  clock,  it 
requires  regular  winding  and  frequent  setting;  left  to  itself  it 
runs  down.  A  plot  of  grass,  whether  the  size  of  a  pocket  hand- 
kerchief or  a  ten  acre  lot,  left  uncared,  runs  to  weeds.  There 
are  men  who  take  no  more  genuine  interest  in  their  home  beyond 
paying  the  bills,  than  if  they  were  merely  occasional  guests.  They 
seem  to  regard  home  as  a  mere  dormitory  and  a  dining  room. 
They  often  wonder,  in  a  vague  way,  why  their  marriage  is  not 
successful.  If  it  were  a  success  it  would  not  be  merely  a  wonder, 
it  would  be  a  miracle. 


384  IMPROVEMENT   ERA 

There  are  wives  who  spend  most  of  their  days  outside  the 

home  walls,  devoting  their  golden  hours  of  possibility  to  dress, 
visits,  theaters,  gossip,  idleness,  frivolity  and  amusement.  The 
house  that  they  might  convert  into  a  shrine  of  love  and  peace  and 
happiness  is  delegated  to  the  care  of  servants;  their  children  are 
practically  orphaned,  under  the  trusteeship  of  nurses.  These 
women  are  losing  the  realities  of  life  in  chasing  shadows.  They 
are  mere  lodgers  in  their  own  homes.  They  are  too  much  inter- 
ested in  the  sidelines  of  life  to  spend  earnest  thought  on  making 
the  real  business,  marriage,  a  success.  They  are  often  the  ones 
who,  in  bursts  of  feminine  confidence,  bemoan  the  failure  of  their 
married  life  and  display  their  robes  of  martyrdom.  They  are  in- 
cendiaries of  their  own  happiness  and  that  of  another,  yet  so 
self-blinded  that  they  delight  to  collect  the  insurance  returns  of 
unmerited  sympathy. 

In  business  there  are  minor  annoyances,  trivial  irritations  and 
petty  trials,  usually  taken  for  what  they  are  worth,  accepted  as 
"all  in  the  day's  work,"  seen  in  their  proper  perspective,  passed 
by  with  a  smile  and  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders  and  forgotten  in  a 
few  moments.  In  married  life  trifles  are  often  exaggerated,  aug- 
mented by  argument,  given  a  fictitious  value,  vitality  and  force 
out  of  all  proportion  to  their  real  import. 

Sometimes  it  takes  only  three  minutes  from  unjust  impatience 
over  an  underdone  chop  to  a  fever-heat  temperature,  followed  by 
thunder  rumblings  of  protest,  dark  clouds,  lightning  flashes  of 
super-heated  indignation,  sudden  coldness,  falling  barometer,  and 
a  rain  of  tears.  One  stalks  out  of  the  dining  room,  leaving  a 
trail  of  smoke  and  sparks  of  irritation  like  a  speeding  locomotive, 
while  the  other  buries  her  head  in  her  arms  near  the  untouched 
dishes  and  just  sobs  in  the  silence,  for  her  world  of  happiness  has 
come  to  an  end — again. 

Electricity  sometimes  seems  snail-like  in  its  motion  compared 
with  this  sudden,  silly  change  of  atmosphere  caused  by  magnify- 
ing a  trifle  that  should  have  been  ignored  altogether  or  made  the 
subject  of  a  jest  that  would  bring  smiles  and  sunshine  to  both.  The 
whole  attitude  is  wrong;  it  is  all  unnecessary,  cruel,  preventable. 
It  really  is  poor  business  judgment,  shutting  off  rich  dividends 
of  possible  happiness  for  a  trifle. 

In  successful  business  partnership  there  is  cheerful  confer- 
ence and  counsel  whenever  it  seems  necessary  to  unite  the  best 


LITTLE    PROBLEMS    OF   MARRIED    LIFE  S85 

thought  of  both  on  the  problem  of  both,  but  there  is  respect  for 
each  other's  position,  duties  and  responsibility.  They  avoid  even 
the  suggestion  or  semblance  of  intrusion  or  interference.  They 
realize  that  their  united  strength  comes  from  the  fact  that  each 
is  doing  a  work  distinctly  different  from  the  other. 

This  business  wisdom  of  non-interference  might  well  be  in- 
troduced into  many  home  firms.  When  a  husband  is  tempted  by 
a  meddling  spirit  of  bossism  to  run  every  detail  of  the  home  and 
assumes  omniscience  on  every  phase  of  housekeeping  from  the 
cellar  to  the  cupolu,  let  him  think  for  a  moment  how  his  partner 
down-town  would  resent  a  similar  intrusion  and  then  quietly  sub- 
side into  silence.  The  wife,  too,  must  realize  that  while  her  keen, 
fresh  mind  may  serve  her  husband  in  some  business  problem  that 
troubles  him  and  which  he  carefully  presents  to  her,  she  should 
be  satisfied  with  being  ready  to  help  in  need ;  but  she  usurps  undue 
authority  when  she  actually  attempts  to  control  his  business  for 
him. 

No  business  is  really  successful  unless  it  is  yielding  fair 
dividends  on  the  capital  invested.  Even  this  success  may  be  con- 
sidered a  partial  failure  if  wiser  management  will  double  or  treble 
its  returns  and  if  many  of  its  possible  revenue-producing  resources 
remain  unworked  and  neglected.  A  man  does  not  flatter  himself 
that  his  business  is  a  success  if  it  merely  pays  expenses,  yet  he 
may  be  too  easily  resigned  to  a  marriage  partnership  that  is  just 
jogging  along,  in  a  dull,  lifeless,  colorless  way,  with  hardly  enough 
vitality  to  have  even  a  serious  discord.  It  is  like  a  patient  who  is 
too  weak  even  to  cough.  That  home  firm  requires  not  merely 
revitalizing  but  reorganization  on  a  new,  real,  pulsing,  red-blood 
basis. 

When  a  business  -firm  is  passing  through  deep  financial 
waters,  when  there  is  trouble  and  discord  in  pulling  through  a 
crisis  and  dissolution  of  the  firm  seems  tremblingly  near,  they 
seek  to  keep  the  inharmony  secret  from  even  employees,  who  may 
perhaps  inadvertently  reveal  it  and  precipitate  a  crash.  Husband 
and  wife  are  often  not  so  careful  nor  so  prudent  in  safeguarding 
the  sanctity  of  home  conditions  as  they  should  be  and  often  betray 
the  impending  insolvency  of  the  home  firm  in  weak  confidences 
that  may  make  mastery  of  the  condition  almost  impossible.  The 
darker  the  situation  the  more  it  demands  the  strongest  light  of 
wisdom  to  illumine  it.     The  more  nearly  snapping  is  the  tie  be- 


3*6 


IMPROVEMENT    KRA 


tween  husband  and  wife  the  more  insistent  is  the  necessity  that 
they  should  stand  together.  Reputation  needs  most  protection  at 
its  weakest  point. 

There  are  times  in  business,  as  all  men  know,  when  enforced 
expansion,  the  better  fortifying  of  prosperity  already  attained  or 
heroic  effort  to  keep  from  being  forced  back  by  conditions,  re- 
quires the  investment  of  new  capital.  In  married  life  there  are 
many  trying  hours,  when  the  glooming  clouds  of  doubt  and  fear 
hang  low  on  the  horizon,  when  one,  or  both,  is  passing  through 
the  dark  valley  of  a  temptation,  a  trial,  a  test,  when  the  pressure 
of  conditions  threatens  to  silence  forever  their  trust  in  each  other. 
There  are  times  when  they  enter  a  dead  calm  of  life  where  no 
faint  breeze  of  inspiration  or  impulse  fills  the  idle  sails  of  the 
era  ft  of  their  living,  and  they  feel  that  they  are  slipping  away 
from  each  other.  Then  new  investment  is  necessary  to  keep  the 
matrimonial  stock  from  falling  too  far  below  par,  new  capital  of 
love,  faith,  loyalty,  consideration,  cheerfulness  and  tenderness. 

In  marriage  true  love,  trust  and  real  comradeship  often  un- 
consciously utilize  all  the  wisest  business  wisdom  in  making  the 
union  that  is  so  near  and  dear  and  all  to  them  a  success.  By  their 
own  sterling  common  sense  and  fine  soul  instinct,  thev  solve  many 
problems  so  naturally  that  it  hardly  seems  they  have  recognized 
the  problems  existed. 

("Little  Compromises  that  Make  for  Happiness."  will  be 
the  next  chapter  in  this  series.) 


It  seldom  happens  that  four  elders  from  one  ward  are  privileged  to 
work  in  one  conference,  but  the 
four  elders  herewith,  who  are 
all  from  Sugar  House  ward; 
Granite  stake,  have  been  labor- 
ing in  the  Scottish  conference. 
The  names  are  as  follows,  read- 
ing from  left  to  right,  back  row: 
Willard  Richards,  Charles  O. 
Kimball;  front  row:  Paul  S. 
Richards,  George  W.  Teasdale. 
The  progress  of  the  work  in  the 
neighborhood  of  their  labors  is 
as  satisfactory  as  could  be  wished 


Elders  of  the  Scottish  Mission, 


The  Need  of  Religious  Training  in 
Childhood* 


BY  J.  H.  PETERSEN 


I  believe  that  the  need  of  religious  training  in  childhood  can 
be  better  appreciated  after  a  brief  discussion  of  what  religion  is, 
and  the  influence  which  it  may  have  on  the  life  of  an  individual. 
I  shall  therefore  consider  these  phases  of  the  subject  first. 

In  the  first  place,  it  will  not  be  denied  that  there  are  several 
erroneous  and  conflicting  views  entertained,  even  by  Latter-day 
Saints,  with  respect  to  religion  and  its  function  in  education. 
Many  look  upon  religion  as  something  visionary  and  consequent!  \ 
impractical — utterly  useless  to  any  one  in  the  common  everyday 
affairs  of  life.  To  them  a  religious  person  is  one  who  is  more 
or  less  a  fanatic;  one  who  is  visionary,  sentimental,  and  usually 
hypocritical;  one  who  can  not  adjust  himself  to  the  ordinary 
affairs  of  industrial  and  social  life ;  he  is  out  of  tune  entirely  with 
the  strenuous  activities  of  the  present  day ;  neither  can  he  appre- 
ciate human  frailties ;  he  is  one  who  takes  for  granted  everything 
which  tradition  or  authority  may  affirm,  but  deliberately  closes 
his  eyes  to  the  facts  of  reason  and  experience,  and  to  the  accepted 
conclusions  of  science.  Again,  others  think  of  religion  only  as  a 
mass  of  rites  and  ceremonies,  a  compliance  with  which  brings 
no  perceptible  benefits  to  the  individual  who  obeys  them.  Others 
again  will  say :  "Religion  may  be  alright,  but  it  is  something  that 
concerns  only  the  world  to  come  and  brings  but  little,  if  any. 
real  good  to  us  in  this  life." 

It  may  be  said  that  there  are  at  least  six  accepted,  or  authori- 
tative, definitions  of  religion.  They  are,  as  given  in  the  Standard 
Dictionary:  i.  Religion  is  a  belief  binding  the  spiritual  nature  of 
man  to  a  supernatural  Being  on  whom  he  is  conscious  that  he  is 
dependent:  also  the  practice  that  springs  out  of  the  recognition 
of  such  relation,  including  the  personal  life  and  experience,  the 
doctrine,  the  duties,  and  the  rites  founded  on  it.  2.  Any  system 
of  faith  and  worship.     3.  An  essential  part  or  a  practical  test  of 


*Read  at  convention  of  Religion  Classes,  Benson  stake,  Dec.  II.  1911. 


S88  IMPROVEMENT   ERA 

the  spiritual  life.  4.  Spiritual  awakening  and  the  conformity  of 
heart  and  life  to  religious  belief.  5.  A  state  of  life  bound  by 
monastic  vows.    6.  Conscientious  devotion  in  practice. 

Most  of  these  statements,  if  broadly  interpreted  and  specifi- 
cally applied  to  the  theory  and  practice  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ,  will  be  acceptable  to  Latter-day  Saints.  To  us,  religion 
implies  a  recognition  of  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brother- 
hood of  man,  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  efficacy  of  his 
sacrifice  in  bringing  redemption  to  the  human  race,  the  eternity 
of  being,  and  the  possibility  of  eternal  progression.  Our  religion 
teaches  us  that  to  serve  our  fellow  men  is  Godlike — that  we  should 
work  as  well  as  pray;  that  a  pure  heart  and  a  chaste  life  admit 
to  the  divine  presence ;  and  that  he  who  does  not  love  his  fellow 
man  cannot  love  God ;  that  "pure  religion  and  undefiled  before 
God  and  the  Father  is  this,  to  visit  the  fatherless  and  widow  in 
their  affliction,  and  keep  himself  unspotted  from  the  world" ; 
to  "put  away  lying,  and  speak  every  man  truth  with  his  neigh- 
bor" ;  that  "the  idler  shall  have  no  place  among  us,"  and  that  "he 
who  fails  to  provide  for  his  own  is  worse  than  an  infidel" ;  that  we 
should  regard  the  rights  and  the  feelings  of  our  fellow  men :  and 
he  who  would  take  advantage  of  his  neighbor  or  refuse  to  pay 
an  honest  debt  is  not  a  good  Latter-day  Saint.  Our  religion 
teaches  us  loyalty  to  our  homes  and  our  families,  loyalty  to  our 
country,  to  the  priesthood,  and  to  nur  Maker. 

Inasmuch  as  an  explanation  of  what  religion  is  also  indicates, 
to  some  extent,  the  influence  which  it  naturally  exerts  on  man- 
kind, the  second  phase  of  our  subject  needs  not  to  be  dwelt  upon 
so  extensively.  Let  it  be  sufficient  to  say  that  the  motive  force 
in  civilization,  the  underlying  agency  in  human  progress,  has 
been  that  subtle,  refining,  elevating  influence  which  religion  gives. 
Religion  is  also  a  restraining  force  which  helps  more  than  any- 
thing else  to  keep  one  from  wrong  doing.  It  sharpens  the  edge 
of  conscience,  impels  one  to  righteousness,  gives  comfort  and 
consolation  when  moments  of  discouragement  and  despondency 
come.  Many  who  have  been  unwilling  to  recognize  the  potent 
influence  of  religion  in  times  of  health,  peace,  and  prosperity, 
have  been  compelled  to  admit  its  comforting  and  hope-inspiring 
effects  in  times  of  poverty,  sickness,  and  death.  In  times  of  trial 
it  nerves  the  hand  and  steadies  the  head ;  it  mellows  the  baser 
passions  and  refines  the  higher  sensibilities. 


NEED  OF  RELIGIOUS  TRAINING  IN   CHI  LI)  HOOD  389 

A  truly  religious  person  will  have  worked  into  his  very  soul 
the  virtues  of  industry,  sobriety,  loyalty,  and  integrity.  His  word 
will  be  as  good  as  his  bond ;  he  will  have  consideration  and  respect 
for  the  rights  and  feelings  of  others ;  his  faith  in  God  and  in  his 
fellow  man  will  be  unshakeable;  he  will  hold  himself  amenable 
to  "the  law  and  the  testimony,"  as  well  as  to  the  so-called  moral 
code,  ever  striving  to  keep  himself  in  harmony  with  the  revealed 
will  of  God,  as  he  understands  it;  he  will  not  close  his  eyes  to  the 
numerous  evidences  in  nature  of  the  handiwork  of  God  nor  deny 
the  testimony  of  an  overruling  Providence  in  the  affairs  of  men. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  things  that  religion  can  and  will  do 
for  everybody.  Are  such  results  worth  while?  In  the  light  of 
these  possibilities,  need  we  ask,  "Is  there  any  need  of  religious 
training  in  childhood?"  especially  when  we  grant  that,  "as  the 
twig  is  bent  the  tree's  inclined."  But  the  question  is  not  so  much 
one  of  the  desirability  of  attaining  these  ends  as  of  awakening 
an  active  interest  which  shall  lead  in  that  direction,  in  spite  of  the 
counter  influences  surrounding  the  children,  which  lead  to  failure 
and  sin.  The  flowery  path  of  ease,  sensuous  pleasure,  and  worldly 
fame,  is  seemingly  much  more  alluring  to  childhood  and  youth 
than  is  the"  straight  and  narrow  way"  which  leads  to  life  eternal. 
I  believe  that  children  are  naturally  good,  but  the  best  that  is  in 
them  is  frequently  perverted  by  unfavorable  influences  of 
heredity  and  environment.  To  a  certain  extent,  children  may 
inherit  evil  appetites  and  inclinations  which  require  much  disci- 
pline to  overcome ;  and  a  bad  environment  may  undermine  and 
destroy  the  noblest  heritage.  Again,  the  mind  of  the  child  is  very 
plastic,  so  that  impressions  of  childhood  are  likely  to  last  forever. 
This  fact  furnishes  one  very  important  reason  for  the  religious 
training  of  children.  Another  reason  is  that  the  home  seldom 
does  its  full  duty  in  giving  children  a  proper  outlook  upon  life,  and 
a  deep-rooted  faith  in  God,  coupled  with  a  sincere  desire  and 
effort  to  do  right. 

If  parents  would  constantly  hold  up  before  their  children 
the  highest  ideals  of  truth,  faith,  and  honor,  and  then  try  to  live 
these  ideals  themselves,  the  problem  of  religious  training  in 
schools,  church  organizations,  etc.,  would  not  be  hard  to  solve. 
As  President  Joseph  F.  Smith  has  said  :  "It  is  the  home  that  needs 
reforming."  There  is  too  much  shifting  of  responsibility  in  re- 
ligious training  away  from  the  home.     The  failure  of  the  home 


390  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

to  do  its  duty  makes  the  task  of  the  Sunday  school,  the  Religion 
class  and  other  organizations  a  very  difficult  one.  Cold  indiffer- 
ence to  religious  teaching  on  the  part  of  parents  in  the  family 
circle  is  often  sufficient  to  annul  the  work  of  the  most  faithful 
and  devoted  teacher.  Then  again,  there  is  the  influence  of  the 
playground,  the  street  corner,  and  the  prevailing  sentiment  of 
the  clique  or  crowd  to  which  the  child  may  belong,  which,  to  a 
great  extent,  spoils  all  the  good  that  the  home  and  the  Church 
have  been  able  to  do.  A  bad  example,  a  "smutty"  story,  a  coarse 
joke,  or  a  slighting  remark  about  the  Church,  the  priesthood,  or 
the  sacred  ordinances  of  the  gospel,  may  be  like  a  dose  of  poison 
to  the  spiritual  nature  of  a  child.  Yet  the  child  lives  in  the  world, 
and  hence  he  cannot  avoid  contact  with  its  evil  as  well  as  its  good 
influences.  Therefore  the  need  of  adequate  training  to  direct 
his  footsteps  in  the  right  way.  The  number  of  so-called  "educated 
tramps"  in  the  world  today,  the  crowded  prisons  and  reforma- 
tories, the  number  of  drunkards,  thieves,  fakirs  and  moral  repro- 
bates loudly  testify  to  the  crying  need  of  religious  training  in 
childhood.  A  well-balanced  education  requires  the  harmonious 
development  of  all  the  human  faculties — the  spiritual  nature  not 
the  least  important. 

A  one-sided  education  often  leads  to  infidelity,  and  infidelity 
destroys  instead  of  builds  up  both  the  individual  and  society.  Men 
and  women  of  faith  are  required  to  build  up  the  kingdom,  hence 
the  children  of  today  need  that  kind  of  training  which  will  fit 
them  to  be  the  kind  of  men  and  women  of  which  the  world  has 
the  greatest  need ;  and  we  believe  that  the  best  training  for  this 
purpose  is  to  be  had  in  the  Latter-day  Saint  home,  and  in  the 
organizations  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints. 

Smithfield,    Utah. 


Is  There  Marrying  and  Giving  in  Marriage 
in  Heaven? 


BY  JOHN  L.  NEBEKER 


Marriage  was  instituted  among  men,  and  ordained  of  God 
unto  man,  in  the  beginning,  that  the  earth  might  answer  the  end 
of  its  creation  before  the  world  was  made,*  therefore,  let  all  things 
be  done  in  order  and  according  to  the  eternal  justice  of  God. 
While  marriage  has  been  incumbent  upon  mankind  in  all  ages  of 
the  world  because  of  the  injunction  of  God  to  "multiply  and  re- 
plenish the  earth,"  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  Lord  has  given 
laws  regulating  it  by  restricting  and  limiting  it  in  certain  channels, 
and  by  protecting  it  by  the  enactment  of  stringent  and  just  laws. 

No  greater  safeguards  are  provided  than  those  that  surround 
and  preserve  the  issues  of  life,  and  the  Lord  has  so  ordained  it 
for  a  wise  purpose  in  him,  the  wisdom  of  which  can  only  be 
appreciated  when  we  understand  and  know  the  purpose  of  the 
Almighty  concerning  the  "creation  of  man  before  the  world  was." 

Marriage  is  defined  as  an  act,  or  ceremony,  by  which  the 
legal  relationship  of  husband  and  wife  is  constituted,  and  in  most, 
if  not  all,  legal  systems  is  taken  as  a  contract.  Unlike  most  con- 
tracts, however,  the  compact  is  for  an  indefinite  duration,  or,  in 
other  words,  a  continuous  relationship  which  can  only  be  cut 
asunder  by  the  violation  of  the  terms  of  the  compact  as  defined 
by  law.  The  contract  may  be  for  the  term  of  the  natural  life  of 
the  contracting  parties,  or  it  may  be  for  eternity. 

In  the  world  it  is  a  question  whether  marriage  is  merely  a 
contract,  or  more  than  a  contract,  whether  purely  a  civil  or  re- 
ligious act.  Which  ever  way  this  may  be  considered,  "it  enjoins 
the  most  sacred  obligations  and  responsibilities  with  which  a  hus- 
band or  wife  can  be  charged  and  carries  with  it  many  difficulties 
which  have  to  be  met;  many  duties  which  have  to  be  fulfiled; 
many  burdens  which  have  to  be  borne  and  many  temptations  which 
have  to  be  overcome." 

Several  years  ago  the  writer  had  occasion   to  discuss  the 


*Doc.  &  Cov.  49:15-17. 


392  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

marital  relations  of  the  Latter-day  Saints  with  a  Mr.  Richardson, 
of  the  First  Baptist  Church,  of  Baltimore,  Md.  Probably  it 
should  not  be  called  a  discussion,  as  the  reverend  gentleman  made 
no  particular  attempt  at  an  argument,  for  or  against  the  subject, 
but  patiently  and  respectfully  listened  to  what  I  had  to  say.  He 
did,  however,  ask  this  question:  '*In  the  light  of  your  statement 
that  the  'Mormon'  Church  holds  that  the  marriage  covenant  is 
eternal,  when  solemnized  by  the  proper  authority,  how  do  you 
reconcile  the  statement  of  Christ's  declaring  that  in  heaven  there 
is  no  marrying  or  giving  in  marriage?"  1  replied  to  the  gentle- 
man's question,  that  the  Latter-day  Saints  do  not  hold  that  the 
language  of  the  Savior,  in  making  the  declaration  referred  to, 
conveyed  the  sectarian  idea  that  the  marriage  relation  would  not 
continue  beyond  the  veil,  or  that  contracts  of  marriage  would  not 
tk:  made  after  death,  except  with  those  to  whom  reference  is  made 
by  the  Savior.  Note  the  language,  "The  children  of  this  world 
marry  and  are  given  in  marriage:"  (referring  to  the  general  cus- 
tom of  marriage  among  mankind)  "but  they  which  shall  be  ac- 
counted worthy  to  obtain  that  world,  and  the  resurrection  from 
the  dead,  neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage."  Note  also 
the  language  of  Mark,  "For  when  they  shall  rise  from  the  dead, 
they  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage,  but  are  as  the 
angels  in  heaven,"*  Also  that  of  Matthew,  "For  in  the  resur- 
rection they  neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage,  but  are 
as  the  angels  of  God  in  heaven."  The  words  quoted  are  those 
used  by  the  Savior  in  answer  to  a  question  put  to  him  by  the 
Sadducees,  touching  a  case  involving  one  of  the  laws  of  Moses 
in  relation  to  marriage,  which,  if  the  Savior's  theory  of  the 
resurrection  be  true,  would,  according  to  their  way  of  thinking, 
produce  such  an  anomalous  condition  that  it  would  be  very  em- 
barrasing,  to  say  the  least.  With  respect  to  their  conclusions  in 
regard  to  this  matter,  he  charges  them  with  error,  because  they 
do  'not  understand  the  scriptures,  nor  the  power  of  God. 

While  the  sectarian  idea  teaches  that  there  are  only  two 
places,  namely,  Heaven  and  Hell,  to  which  mortals  go  after  death, 
they  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  "In  My  Father's  House  there  are 
many  Mansions."  In  other  words,  a  place  of  classification. 
As   the   Apostle   Paul  puts   it,   "there  are   Celestial   bodies  and 


*Mark  12:25;  Matt.  22:30;  II  Cor.  12:1-4;  Doc.  &  Cov.  Sec.  76. 


IS   THERE    MARRIAGE   IN    HEAVEN?  893 

bodies  Terrestrial,  but  the  glory  of  the  Celestial  is  one,  and  the 
glory  of  the  Terrestrial  is  another."  He  further  says,  "There  is 
one  glory  of  the  sun,  and  another  glory  of  the  moon,  and  another 
glory  of  the  stars,  for  (as)  one  star  differeth  from  another  star 
in  glory,  so  also  is  the  resurrection  from  the  dead."  The 
Apostle  Paul,  also  speaking  of  visions  and  revelations,  said  he 
knew  a  man  in  Christ  above  fourteen  years  ago,  whether  in  the  body 
or  out  of  the  body  he  could  not  tell,  was  caught  up  to  the  third 
heaven.  He  also  says  he  knew  a  man  that  had  been  caught  up 
into  paradise  and  had  heard  unspeakable  words,  which  it  is  un- 
lawful for  a  man  to  utter. 

The  Latter-day  Saints  believe  that  the  glories  referred  to  by 
the  apostle  are  kingdoms  or  worlds  and  are  distinctively  different 
from  each  other  in  the  power  and  dominion  exercised,  or  privi- 
leges enjoyed,  by  those  who  are  permitted  to  inhabit  them,  that 
each  has  its  separate  laws  to  govern  and  control,  and  judgment 
will  be  given  to  men  according  to  the  conditions  and  circumstances 
with  which  they  are  surrounded  in  the  resurrection.  Again  re- 
ferring to  the  language  of  the  Savior  in  answering  the  question  of 
the  Sadducees,  relative  to  the  woman  who  had  seven  husbands,  the 
conclusion  is  forced  that  in  at  least  one  of  the  glories,  or  heavens 
referred  to  by  Paul  and  designated  as  a  world  by  Christ,  there 
will  be  no  marrying  nor  giving  in  marriage,  remaining  as  the 
angels  of  heaven,  being  the  children  of  God,  because  they  are  the 
children  of  the  resurrection.  Mark  the  language  again,  "They 
that  are  accounted  worthy  to  obtain  that  world  and  the  resurrec- 
tion from  the  dead,  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage." 
hence  this  view  of  the  matter  does  not  preclude  the  possibility 
of  a  union  of  the  sexes  in  the  marriage  bond  beyond  the  grave 
and  in  the  Celestial  world,  at  least,  as  that  is  the  highest  glory 
spoken  of,  being  typical  of  the  glory  of  the  sun. 

Now  as  to  the  world  to  which  the  Savior  referred,  where 
there  would  be  "no  marrying  or  giving  in  marriage." 

It  is  an  acknowledged  fact  that  the  Sadducees,  as  well  as 
others,  in  their  many  conversations  with  the  Savior,  were  not 
always  seeking  for  the  truth,  but  were  very  insidiously  and  per- 
niciously trying  to  entrap  him,  so  that  a  provocation  might  be  had 
for  his  arrest  and  imprisonment,  hence  he  gave  them  no  more  in- 
formation, on  such  occasions,  than  was  necessary  to  answer  their 

*Doc.  <fc  Cov. 


394  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

questions.  So  that  no  definite  statement  is  recorded  making  it 
plain  as  to  what  world  was  referred  to  in  his  statement  recorded 
by  Luke.  In  this  connection,  however,  the  Savior,  no  doubt,  had 
reference  to  conditions  that  surrounded  the  Jews,  religiously  and 
otherwise,  which  conditions  clearly  indicated  an  apostasy  from 
the  faith  of  their  fathers,  as  there  were  great  divisions  among 
them  in  their  religious  views,  and  in  the  manner  of  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  scriptures,  causing  to  arise  among  them  many  sects 
and  parties.  While  they  were  for  the  most  part  agreed  on  the 
ritual  and  modes  of  sacrifice  required  by  the  law  of  Moses,  such 
rites  and  ceremonies  were  being  continually  polluted  by  the  hier- 
archy, the  chief  priests.  Hence,  in  the  language  of  Isaiah,  "They 
have  transgressed  the  law,  changed  the  ordinances,  and  broken 
the  everlasting  covenant,"  and  it  would  appear  from  the  language 
of  Isaiah  28:18,  that  they  would  make  the  marriage  covenant  to 
end  with  death ;  a  condition  most  reasonable  when  it  is  under- 
stood that  they  had  no  hope  beyond  the  grave,  for  such  was  the 
belief  of  the  Sadducees. 

They  had  rejected  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  higher  law  of 
the  gospel,  by  which  their  marriage  vows  might  be  made  eternal, 
and,  as  Mosheim  says,  "were  sunk  in  the  most  deplorable  ig- 
norance of  God  and  of  divine  things,  and  had  no  other  way  of 
rendering  themselves  acceptable  to  the  Supreme  Being  than  by 
sacrifices,  ablutions,  and  other  external  ceremonies  of  the  Mosaic 
law,  from  which  proceeded  that  laxity  of  manner,  and  that  prof- 
ligate wickedness  which  prevailed  among  the  Jews  during  Christ's 
ministry  upon  the  earth."  Then,  in  the  light  of  such  conditions 
and  coupled  with  the  possibility  that  the  event  with  which  the 
Sadducees  preluded  their  question  was  an  actual  fact  and  did 
happen,  and  was  of  common  knowledge  among  them,  to  what 
world  would  he  refer?  Certainly  not  to  the  Celestial  world. 
Hence  we  are  of  the  opinion  that  it  was  not  the  intention  of  the 
Savior  to  lay  down  a  law  which  would  prohibit  the  marriage 
relation  from  being  perpetuated  in  heaven  according  to  the  order 
established  by  the  Lord,  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  many  such 
unions  have  been  and  will  be  consummated  by  which  the  nuptial 
tie  will  remain  unbroken  even  after  the  grave,  and  continue  so 
throughout  all  eternity.  Such  marriages  are  being  solemnized 
today  not  only  for  the  living,  but  for  the  dead  also.  Inasmuch  as 
it  is  necessary  for  the  contract  to  be  entered  into  in  the  flesh,  or 


IS    THERE    MARRIAGE    IN    HEAVEN? 


395 


in  the  mortal  sphere,  the  dead  can  be  officiated  for  by  the  living 
acting  in  their  stead. 

In  conclusion,  let  it  be  said  that  if  purity,  love  and  virtue, 
filial  affection  and  unimpeachable  integrity  and  fidelitv  have  part 
in  the  hereafter,  then  should  not  the  conjugal  relation  and  com- 
placent love  of  husband  and  wife,  together  with  their  children, 
associated  in  the  holy  bond  of  fatherhood  and  motherhood  in  the 
family  circle,  be  continued  as  long  as  eternity  shall  last  or  im- 
mortality endure?  I  think  the  analogy  is  justified. 
Salt  Lake  Citt,  Utah. 


To  a  Missionary 


Gird  on  your  armor  of  the  Christ,  Thus  armored  and  panoplied  now, 

my  lad,  my  lad, 

And  fasten  it  with  three  things —  You  are  almost  ready  to  go. 

The  heart  of  the  boy,  the  faith  of  Yet  pause,  I  pray,  and  let  me  say 

a  man,  Some  things  you  ought  to  know. 
And  prayer  on  rising  wings. 

You'll  need  the  courage  of  a  boy,  You   are  going   to   teach,   not   be 

my  lad,  taught, 

When    the    scornful    world    goes  In  the  things  of  God  or  of  man. 

wrong.  Men's  ways  go  wrong,  but  God  is 
For  boys  forget  the  foes  they've  strong, 

met,  And  he's  laid  a  Gospel  Plan. 
And  they  conquer  life  with  a  song. 

The  faith  of  a  man  is  a  beautiful  That  Plan  will  redeem  the  wide, 
thing,  wide  world — 

It  lightens  the  gloomiest  way.  If  you  will  but  do  your  share. 

You  must  hold  it  tight,  that  its  With  a  boy's  brave  soul,  and  your 
lovely   light  iaith.  kept  whole 

Shall  shine  on  your  darkest  day.  On  the  rising  wings  of  prayer. 


But   courage   and   faith   are   only 

a  part  So  take  with  you  now  a  dauntless 

Of   the   armor   you   must   always  heart, 

wear And  the  faith  to  do  and  dare — 

For  the  rivets  that  hold,  and  the  The    hope    of    your    friends,    the 

hinges  that  fold,  grace  God  sends, 

Are  a  constant,  faithful  prayer.  And  your  parents'  tender  prayer. 

Susa  Young  Gates. 


The  Open  Road 


BY   JOHN   HENRY   EVANS,   OP  THE   LATTER-DAY 
SAINTS  UNIVERSITY 


Adventure  XI. — In  Which  Brocketts  Has  a  Loaf  and  Some 
Thoughts  by  the  Weber. 

When  the  train  reached  Ogden,  in  Utah,  Brocketts  got  down 
from  the  baggage  car  platform,  cramped  and  aching,  to  go  in 
search  of  something  to  eat.  There  were  then,  as  at  present,  lunch 
counters  at  every  station  on  the  railway,  but  he  could  not  avail 
himself  of  the  accommodation,  considering  what  a  little  way  a 
solitary  nickel  will  go  at  a  railway  lunch  counter.  The  only  thing 
that  remained,  therefore,  was  to  get  work  in  order  that  he  might 
eat. 

It  was  early  morning  of  a  sunny  day,  when  everybody  either 
whistled  or  sang,  or  felt  like  it.  Surely,  then,  it  would  be  a  simple 
matter  for  a  poor  boy  to  find  work  enough  to  get  a  few  meals. 
For  Brocketts  intended  to  stay  at  Ogden  only  till  he  could  obtain 
a  few  cents  to  serve  him  till  the  next  station,  as  he  had  done  at 
one  or  two  places  already.  But  this  time  he  had  reckoned  without 
his  host.  The  men  whom  he  accosted  at  the  stores,  hotels,  and 
private  residences,  whether  whistling  or  not,  had  nothing  for  any- 
body to  do.  Business  was  very  dull  on  the  business  blocks,  and 
elsewhere  everybody  did  his  chores.  So  the  boy  proceeded  dis- 
consolately to  spend  his  last  piece  of  money. 

Like  Benjamin  Franklin,  of  whom,  however,  Brocketts  had 
not  then  heard,  he  bought  some  bread — not  three  puffy  rolls,  like 
that  great  man,  but  one  only — as  affording  the  greatest  quantity 
for  the  least  amount.  With  this  under  his  arm  he  moved  away  in 
the  direction  of  the  river,  where  there  were  no  houses.  Finding 
a  place  where  the  bank  was  low,  he  went  to  the  water's  edge 
and  sat  down  on  the  dry  cobble-stones  to  eat  his  breakfast.  He 
broke  off  pieces  of  bread,  dipped  them  into  the  clear  stream,  and 
lifted  them  to  his  month  soaked  and  dripping.  A  lean  dog,  hun- 
gry-looking as  the  boy,  approached  to  what  it  considered  a  safe 
distance,  licking  its  chops  in  anticipation  of  a  repast.     The  last 


THE  OPEN   ROAD  397 

piece,  out  of  sheer  sympathy  for  the  animal,  Brocketts  threw  to 
his  grateful  companion.  The  dog  swallowed  it  at  a  single  gulp, 
after  the  manner  of  hungry  curs,  and  in  a  twinkling  looked  again 
as  if  he  had  not  had  the  morsel.  The  boy  himself  was  not  sure 
that  his  tossing  the  bread  had  not  been  done  in  imagination,  so 
quickly  had  it  disappeared. 

Brocketts  was  not  what  you  might  call  a  religous  boy.  True, 
he  had  been  reared,  if  you  could  call  his  bringing  up  by  so  pre- 
tentious a  word,  a  Catholic,  and  had  therefore  learned  his  cate- 
chism, counted  his  rosary,  and  gone  through  whatever  other  forms 
are  customary  in  that  church.  But  these  had  not  made  so  deep 
an  impression  as  the  nuns  could  have  wished  on  the  little  orphan. 
Anyway,  if  you  had  told  him  that  there  was  a  distinctly  divine 
guidance  in  the  affairs  of  men,  homeless  orphans  as  well  as  kings 
and  emperors,  ten  chances  to  one  he  would  have  laughed  in  your 
face — unless,  indeed,  his  native  gentlemanliness  had  restrained 
him. 

And  yet  even  now,  as  he  sat  on  those  cobblestones  on  the 
river  bank,  he  was  conscious  of  a  peculiar  feeling  in  him  that  his 
journey  now  lay  south  and  not  west.  In  brief,  he  felt  distinctly 
that  he  should  give  up  his  idea  of  going  to  California  and  go  to 
Salt  Lake  City  instead.  He  tried  to  argue  this  feeling  away. 
There  was  every  reason  why  he  should  continue  his  way  to  the 
coast.  He  was  anxious  to  make  a  fortune,  not  for  his  own  selfish 
interest,  but  for  the  purpose  of  making  possible  that  long  search 
for  his  parents ;  and  California  was  the  only  place  where  it  was 
likely  he  could  make  a  fortune,  if  there  was  any  likelihood  at  all 
about  it.  Besides,  there  was  the  matter,  of  personal  pride  and 
honor  to  be  considered.  Any  decent  fellow  owed  it  to  himself 
not  to  give  up  for  a  mere  whim  something  that  he  had  once  set 
out  upon.  But  there  was  that  feeling  more  dominant  than  ever, 
in  the  face  of  all  his  reasoning,  and,  like  Banquo's  ghost,  it  just 
would  not  down.  The  upshot  of  it  all  was,  that  Brocketts  got  \^. 
retraced  his  steps  to  the  depot,  and  inquired  when  the  next  train 
would  be  leaving  for  Salt  Take  Citv.  There  would  be  none,  he 
was  told,  till  the  evening. 

Evening-,  however,  found  him  on  the  depot  platform  watching 
the  train.  Tt  was  still  light,  and  the  lad  wondered  how  he  would 
manage  to  get  a  ride.  Evidently  he  must  get  one  through  the  con- 
ductor this  time,  for  the  man  looked  about  so  vigilantly.    "Better 


898  IMPROVEMENT  ERA 

ask  him,"  he  told  himself,  "it  can  do  no  harm,  and  may  do  good." 
And  ask  him  he  did.  But  the  answer  he  got  sent  him  away 
broken-hearted.  He  walked  toward  the  end  of  the  platform 
farthest  away  from  the  train  so  that  he  might  reflect. 

It  was  a  little  while  yet  till  the  passenger  should  pull  out, 
and  the  trainman  in  blue  uniform  and  with  lighted  lantern  hung 
on  his  arm  was  pacing  the  platform.  Several  times  he  looked  at 
the  boy.  Was  he  thinking  better  of  his  harsh  refusal?  Coming 
closer  and  closer  toward  the  dejected  Brocketts,  but  in  such  a  way 
as  to  make  it  all  appear  a  mere  thoughtless  incident,  he  said  in  a 
low  tone: 

"I  guess  you'd  better  get  on.  boy,  if  you  want  to  go  to  Salt 
Lake.     But  take  the  last  seat  in  the  car,  so's  not  to  be  noticed." 

Brocketts'  heart  was  instantly  on  his  lips,  gratitude  written 
on  every  feature.  He  hastily  did  as  he  was  told,  coming  to  him- 
self only  after  the  conductor's  "All  aboard !"  and  the  preliminary 
ringing  of  the  engine's  bell. 

"Wake  up,  boy,"  the  conductor  whispered,  "we're  nearly 
there."  Against  his  will  the  monotonous  sing-song  of  the  passen- 
ger car  had  put  Brocketts  to  sleep. 

"Where  you  going  to  when  you  get  to  Salt  Lake?"  inquired 
his  new  friend,  after  the  boy  had  rubbed  dreamland  from  his  eyes. 

"I  don't  know,  sir." 

"Have  you  had  anything  to  eat  lately?" 

Brocketts  told  him  about  the  morning's  repast. 

"Great  Scott,  boy!     Haven't  you  any  money,  either?" 

"No,  sir;  I  spent  my  last  nickel  this  morning." 

"Didn't  you  tell  anyone  at  Ogden  your  condition?" 

"No,  sir ;  they  didn't  ask  me." 

The  conductor  felt  in  his  pocket,  drew  out  a  piece  of  money, 
and  said : 

"Here's  a  quarter  to  buy  something  to  eat  with.  Everybody 
has  to  eat,  you  know,  especially  boys." 

Brocketts  thanked  him  and,  putting  the  twenty-five  cents  into 
his  pocket,  vowed  he  would  never  forget  the  conductor's  kindness. 

It  was  dark  now.  The  City  was  not  then  lighted  up  by  a 
thousand  flickering  arcs.  All  the  light  that  was  then  visible  to 
Brocketts  issued  out  of  the  windows  in  the  houses.  Brocketts 
was  the  last  out.  A  few  carriages,  public  and  private,  were  there 
at  the  depot,  but  no  street  cars.     These  latter  were  not  to  make 


THE  OPEN  ROAD  399 

their  noisy  appearance  for  many  years  even  in  the  larger  cities 
of  the  east.  A  number  of  people  who  had  got  off  the  train  walked 
in  the  direction  which  the  boy  rightly  judged  to  be  the  central 
part  of  town.  He  followed  them  in  the  hope  of  finding  a  place  to 
eat  in.  By  the  time  he  had  gone  a  considerable  distance,  and 
when  only  three  persons  were  left  of  the  group  which  had  got  off 
the  train  with  him,  he  perceived,  not  a  great  way  ahead  of  him,  a 
street  lamp  such  as  he  had  seen  in  New  York.  He  knew  then 
that  he  was  approaching  what  he  afterwards  learned  to  call  Main 
street.  Passing  the  New  Tabernacle — that  magnificent  structure, 
rearing,  like  a  huge  turtle,  its  giant  back  to  the  night  sky — he 
fully  believed  himself  to  be  looking  upon  a  natural  hilltop. 

Still  searching  for  an  eating-house,  he  turned  down  Main 
street,  where  were  some  more  lamps.  At  last  he  discovered  one 
in  a  large  building  which  he  took  for  a  hotel,  but  at  that  late  hour 
only  two  persons  were  in  the  room,  besides  the  waiters.  Enspirited 
by  the  thought  that  he  had  money  in  his  pocket,  or  rather  in  his 
hand,  he  entered  boldly  and  ordered  a  full  meal,  and  not  more 
than  twenty-five  cents,  sir,  if  you  please.  Never  had  there  been 
such  a  supper!  He  purred  with  the  thought  of  it  all.  He  con- 
ceived a  great  fondness  for  Salt  Lake,  even  though  the  waiter 
stood  impertinently  by  as  if  he  expected  him  to  try  to  make  away 
with  the  plates  and  spoons. 

The  meal  over,  he  wandered  up  and  down  the  principal  thor- 
oughfare for  half  an  hour  or  so,  revolving  in  his  mind  all  possible 
courses  to  pursue.  In  the  end,  he  turned  down  the  street  leading 
past  the  "hill"— the  one  he  had  come  up  on— and  walked  rapidly 
back  to  the  depot.  There  he  hunted  for,  and  found,  the  car  in 
which  he  had  come  from  Ogden,  arranged  the  cushions  after  a 
manner  he  had  seen  travelers  do,  and  lay  down  to  sleep  for  the 
night,  regardless  of  whether  the  train  might  not  be  making  a  trip 
somewhere  before  he  awoke. 


Adventure  XII.— In  Which  Is  Shown  That  Not  Every  Fine 
Bird  Wears  Fine  Feathers. 

Mr.  Frederick  Bernstein  sat  in  his  caged  office  in  the  center 
of  the  store  busily  engaged  in  reading  and  assorting  his  morning 
mail.  He  was  somewhat  past  fifty,  reasonably  stout,  with  a  square 
head,  scanty  beard  fast  turning  white,  and  keen,  penetrating,  gray 


400  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

eyes.  The  chill  of  the  October  air  had  been  expelled  from  the 
office  by  a  fire,  whose  warm  glow  looked  out  pleasantly  through 
the  strips  of  isinglass  that  girded  the  waist  of  the  little  heater. 

"Here's  a  boy  to  see  you,  sir !" 

Turning  about  in  his  new  swivel  chair,  Mr.  Bernstein  recog- 
nized one  of  his  clerks,  but  his  quick  eye  fell  immediately  upon 
a  ragged  sketch  of  a  lad,  dusty  and  tanned  as  from  long  travel 
on  a  summer's  road. 

"And  what  can  I  do  for  you,  young  man?"  he  asked  in  a 
kindly  voice. 

"I  want  to  get  a  job,  sir." 

"Oh,  but  I'm  afraid  you've  come  to  the  wrong  place.  All 
our  positons  for  boys  are  taken  just  now.  Maybe  if  you'll  come 
around  in  a  week  or  so,  there'll  be  a  vacancy;  and  then  I'll  con- 
sider your  application." 

And  Mr.  Bernstein  faced  about  quickly  to  resume  his  work 
at  the  pile  of  letters  on  his  desk. 

But  the  sturdy  little  figure  was  not  to  be  got  rid  of  so  easily. 
This  was  by  no  means  the  first  time  in  his  life  that  an  attempt 
had  been  made  to  turn  Brocketts  away  by  holding  out  a  promise 
that  was  not  meant  to  be  a  promise. 

"Couldn't  I  clean  the  sidewalk  in  front  of  the  store?"  he 
asked,  undaunted  by  the  rebuff.  And  then  he  added,  by  way  of 
heading  off  a  possible  objection,  "It's  awful  dirty,  sir!" 

The  man  wheeled  round,  surprised  into  a  smile.  He  looked 
the  boy  over  from  head  to  foot — the  mat  of  yellow  hair  that  looked 
as  if  it  had  never  had  a  comb  on  it ;  the  unwashed  face  and  hands, 
for  in  truth  it  had  been  a  good  while,  longer  than  he  would  have 
liked  to  confess,  since  they  had  felt  the  cleansing  power  of  water 
and  soap ;  the  soiled  and  tattered  clothing,  including  even  the  hat 
he  now  held  in  his  hand;  and,  finally,  the  well-ventilated  shoes 
laced  with  white  wrapping  twine  and  covered  with  dust. 

Brockets  was  beginning  to  think  Mr.  Bernstein  would  pres- 
ently take  him  apart,  piece  by  piece,  in  order  to  make  sure  that 
he  had  been  put  together  properly.  But  the  severe  inspector  said 
not  a  word,  till  he  had  completed  his  inspection.  Then  he  reached 
down  far  under  his  desk,  fished  out  a  plain  red  brick  of  the  sort 
used  in  building  houses,  and  held  it  up  in  one  hand,  while  with  his 
other  hand  he  dug  down  into  an  unfathomable  right  pocket  in 
the  trousers'  leg  and  brought  up  a  half-dollar  piece. 


THE  OPEN  HOAi>  401 

"Here,"  he  said,  "take  this  brick  and  deposit  it  in  the  south- 
west corner  of  lot  nineteen  in  block  twenty-six  of  plat  A,  the 
marked  side  up.    And  here's  fifty  cents  for  your  trouble." 

The  boy  was  non-plussed  for  a  minute,  but,  taking  the  brick, 
he  said: 

"Yes,  sir;  but  I  don't  want  the  money  till  I've  done  the  work." 

"Take  the  money,"  the  man  said;  "I  insist!" 

And  Brocketts  took  it  and  walked  out  of  the  store. 

Was  "lot  nineteen"  and  "block  twenty-six"  and  "plat  A"  in 
the  jungles  of  South  Africa  or  in  the  regions  of  the  North  Pole, 
or  where  was  it  ?  This  was  the  vast  query  en  the  lips  of  the  boy 
as  he  walked  down  any  street  in  any  direction  till  he  could  collect 
his  wits.  One  thing,  though,  was  certain,  he  would  find  it 
wherever  it  might  be — unless  it  was  non-existent.  And  he  would 
find  out  that,  too,  and  tell  the  man,  to  his  face. 

A  pleasant-appearing  old  gentleman  was  coming  toward  him. 
He  looked  as  if  he  knew  everything. 

"Can  you  tell  me,  sir,  where  I  can  find  lot  nineteen  in  block 
twenty-six  of  plat  A  ?" 

The  gentleman  that  looked  as  if  he  knew  everything  looked 
for  the  moment  as  if  he  knew  positively  nothing.  Surely,  his 
senses  had  gone  a-Maying — or  had  the  boy's?  Thinking  that  the 
boy's  had,  he  walked  on,  inspecting  the  store  signs. 

Brocketts,  nothing  daunted,  asked  the  next  person  he  met,  and 
the  next,  and  yet  the  next,  till,  it  would  seem,  he  had  the  whole 
town  by  the  ears,  wondering  what  mysterious  import  there  could 
be  in  "lot  nineteen,  of  block  twenty-six,  of  plat  A."  One  person 
— a  woman,  and  the  only  one  of  either  sex  who  really  took  him  in 
earnest — suggested  that  he  go  to  the  city  recorder's  office  and 
inquire. 

And  where  might  the  city  recorder's  office  be,  please? 

She  told  him,  and  he  went  there. 

But  his  griefs  were  far  from  being  over  when  he  had  been 
shown,  at  the  recorder's,  a  large  map  of  the  city.  He  drew  a 
map  of  his  own,  beginning  where  the  office  stood,  and  went  out 
with  it  in  his  hand.  Then  with  great  difficulty  he  wormed  his  way 
block  by  block,  bending  the  paper  out  of  sight  when  he  had  gone 
the  distance  it  represented,  till  he  reached  the  anxiously  looked 
for  "lot  nineteen." 

The  lot  itself  lay  between  two  fences,  and  to  reach  the  south- 


402  IMPROVEMENT    EftA 

west  corner  of  it  he  had  to  penetrate  a  veritable  jungle  of  weeds 
twice  as  tall  as  himself.  But  he  found  it,  as  last,  depositing  the 
troublesome  brick  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave  uppermost  the  side 
on  which  had  been  carved  a  big  star,  with  "Frederick  Bernstein" 
written  on  the  side. 

Then  he  hurried  back  to  the  office  in  the  center  of  the  Bern- 
stein store.  The  head  of  the  firm  met  him  with  a  strangely  sus- 
picious smile,  which  the  boy  returned  in  kind. 

"I  left  the  brick,  sir!" 

"Did  you?  That's  good.  Now  you  may  clean  the  sidewalk. 
You  said,  I  believe,  that  it  was  dirty." 

Mr.  Bernstein  walked  out  through  the  rear  of  the  store  to 
where  the  stable-boy  was  feeding  some  horses.  "Tom,"  he  said, 
"go  as  soon  as  you  can  to  lot  nineteen  and  see  if  there's  a  brick 
there,  and  notice  which  side's  up.  When  you  return,  come  through 
the  back  way." 

The  boy  smiled.  "Yes,  sir!"  was  all  he  said.  He  knew, 
wihout  asking,  where  lot  nineteen  could  be  found.  He  mounted 
one  of  the  work  animals  and  was  off  in  no  time. 

In  truth,  Mr.  Bernstein  was  a  strange  man  in  some  respects. 
He  had  his  own  way  of  doing  things.  One  of  his  hobbies  was 
to  see  what  men  were  made  of — whether  they  had  a  backbone  or 
only  a  column  of  gristle  running  up  and  down  the  spine.  Every 
man  in  his  employ  had  been  tested  by  some  apparently  trifling 
task.  The  brick  method  was  lately  a  favorite  one  for  boys.  He 
had  applied  it  many  times  in  the  last  year  or  two.  Nine  out  of 
every  ten  boys  had  either  failed  to  locate  "lot  nineteen"  and  return 
to  the  store,  or  had  thrown  the  brick  away  at  the  first  convenient 
opportunity.  In  either  event  they  were  better  off,  they  thought,  to 
the  extent  of  half  a  dollar,  and  their  would-be  employer  was  well 
rid  of  them  and  at  small  cost. 

When  Tom  came  in  with  the  brick  under  his  arm,  Mr.  Bern- 
stein was  distinctly  pleased.  Did  he  find  it  in  the  southwest 
corner?  and  was  the  star-side  up?  To  both  of  which  questions 
the  stable-boy  answered  in  the  affirmative. 

Meanwhile,  Brocketts  belabored  the  sidewalk.  It  was  dirty. 
There  was  no  doubt  about  that.  Either  yesterday  or  the  day  before 
a  wind  must  have  risen,  a  fearful  gale,  and  blown  things  around 
furiously.  Paper  and  other  light  articles,  with  sand  and  dust 
a-plenty,   fairly  littered  the  walk.     The  first  of  these  the  boy 


THE  OPEN   ROAD 


403 


gathered  up  and  deposited  in  a  wooden  box  behind  a  stove  in  the 
store.  Getting  a  sprinkling  can  and  a  broom,  he  gave  those  cob- 
blestones such  a  sweeping  as  they  had  not  received  in  a  long  time. 
He  removed  a  certain  dirty  blotch  that  had  been  there  during 
several  previous  sweepings.  The  job  done,  he  went  to  the  office 
with  the  announcement  that  it  was  finished. 

"Very  well,"  said  Mr.  Bernstein.  "Let's  go  and  see  how 
well  you  have  done  it." 

The  two  walked  out  to  the  front  door,  where  the  man  in- 
spected the  work.  They  went  back  to  the  office  together  without 
speaking. 

"How  much  do  you  think  I  ought  to  pay  you  for  this?"  Mr. 
Bernstein  asked. 

"I  don't  know,  sir.  You  can  tell  better  than  I  what  it's 
worth." 

But  the  line  of  the  man's  thoughts  were  switched  at  this 
moment,  for  he  suddenly  asked: 

"What's  your  name?  and  how  old  are  you?" 

"Brocketts,  sir — Brocketts  Porter.     I'm  sixteen." 

"You  live  here,  do  you,  Brocketts?" 

"No,  sir."  Would  Mr.  Bernstein  question  him  about  his 
origin  and  history?  To  deceive  went  sorely  against  the  grain 
with  him,  and  to  tell  the  truth  and  be  turned  away  was  a  thing 
he  would  do  anything  almost  rather  than  face.  But  Mr.  Bern- 
stein saved  him  from  the  temptation  to  lie  by  asking: 

"A  stranger,  then?    And  how  long  have  you  been  here?" 

"Only  since  last  night — I  came  here  from  Ogden  last  night." 

"Oh.    Any  relation  to  the  Porters  of  Ogden?" 

Brocketts  unhesitatingly  said  that  he  wasn't. 

"And  so  you'd  like  to  work  somewhere?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

Mr.  Bernstein  drummed  absently  with  his  fingers.  "How 
would  you  like  to  work  for  me  ?" 

Brocketts'  eyes  popped.     "I'd  like  it,  sir!" 

"Very  well,  then ;  I'll  give  you  two  dollars  and  a  half  a  week, 
to  begin  with.    What  do  you  say  ?" 

"I'll  take  it,  sir,"  he  said,  though,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he 
thought  the  wages  rather  small.  The  phrase,  "to  begin  with," 
was  what  he  saw  most  promising. 

"Good !     And  now  for  your  pay  for  cleaning  that  sidewalk. 


404  IMPROVEMENT   ERA 

Here's  a  quarter.  You  did  a  good  job,  and  besides  it  was  dirty, 
as  you  say. 

Brocketts  took  the  money  and  murmured  his  thanks. 

"Where  are  you  going  to  stay  tonight?"  asked  Mr.  Bern- 
stein, for  the  first  time  thinking  of  the  boy's  more  immediate 
needs.  As  for  Brocketts,  he  was  beginning  to  think  that  he  had 
run  upon  a  living  interrogation  point. 

But  he  answered:  "I  don't  know,  sir.  1  suppose  I  c'n  find  a 
place  somewhere." 

"No,"  Mr.  Bernstein  said;  "I'm  not  going  to  let  you  wander 
about,  and  take  chances  of  losing  you."  Then,  after  a  few  min- 
utes' reflection  and  drumming  on  the  desk,  he  added,  "I'm  going 
to  raise  your  wages  already." 

Brocketts  was  all  astonishment. 

"Come  with  me,"  the  man  said,  at  the  same  time  closing 
his  desk  and  leading  the  way  through  the  rear  door.  They  went 
out  to  the  stables. 

"Tom,  here's  a  boy  that's  going  to  work  here,  and  I  want 
you  to  help  him  fix  up  that  room  in  the  loft  for  him,  so  that  he 
can  stay  there  for  a  few  nights." 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  the  stable-boy.  And  when  Mr.  Bernstein 
had  gone,  "What's  your  name,  kid?" 

"Brocketts." 

"And  mine's  Tom." 

"Yes,  I  know  that." 

"How'd  you  know?" 

"Heard  Mr.  Bernstein  call  you  that." 

"Oh!" 

Then  a  pause,  in  which  the  two  sized  up  each  other.  Tom 
was  the  first  to  speak. 

"You  the  kid  'at  carried  the  brick  to  lot  nineteen?" 

Brocketts  grinned  an  assent. 

"Well,  you've  made  good,  ain't  you.  First  time  it's  ever  been 
there — since  I  took  it  there  myself. 

This,  Brocketts  somehow  knew  was  a  lie,  but  he  did  not  say 
so.  He  said  instead  that  carrying  bricks  was  a  very  common- 
place occupation. 

"Sure!"  admitted  Tom,  "when  you've  got  to  carry  'em  all 
the  time.  But  carrying  one  brick  ain't — anyhow,  it  ain't  when  it's 
for  Mr.  Bernstein.     Come  on,  follow  your  uncle !" 


THE   OPEN   ROAD  406 

And  the  newly-acquired  relative — whether  on  the  father's  or 
on  the  mother's  side,  Brocketts  did  not  stop  to  find  out — led  the 
way  back  to  the  stable  end,  up  a  dangerously  steep  stairway,  or, 
to  be  strictly  accurate,  a  ladder-way,  and  into  a  box-like  room 
under  one  of  the  ample  gables.  Certainly,  it  was  not  the  most 
attractive  place  in  the  world.  It  was  innocent  of  all  adornment. 
Daylight  and  the  chill  came  in  through  the  spaces  between  the 
boards  as  well  as  through  the  unstopped  square  window  that 
served  to'  admit  the  light.  Pieces  of  dirty  paper,  wisps  of  straw 
and  hay,  and  various  odds  and  ends  usually  found  in  unused  barn 
lofts,  were  strewn  all  over  the  floor. 

"How  d'you  like  it  ?"  Tom  asked  before  Brocketts  could  fairly 
get  time  to  take  in  the  situation. 

"All  right.  I  c'n  sweep  it  out  and  make  it  do  till  I  get  a 
better  one." 

"Sure !    And  I  c'n  help  you." 

The  two  boys  set  to  work  with  a  heartiness  that  did  them 
both  credit.  Two  brooms  sufficed  to  raise  such  a  dust  as  threat- 
ened to  suffocate  them.  It  did  drive  them  to  the  opening  for  a 
breath  of  clean  air  every  three  seconds.  Then  they  lugged  up  the 
ladder-way  two  bundles  of  straw  and  laid  it  out  in  the  corner  for 
a  bed.  A  roll  of  bedding  that  had  been  stowed  away  in  an  unused 
manger  in  the  stable  they  took  up  piecemeal,  shook  the  quilts  and 
blankets  well,  and  spread  them  over  the  straw. 

"There!     Guess  that'll  do  all  right,"  commented  Tom. 

"That's  fine!"  echoed  Brocketts,  as  he  thought  of  the  many 
nights  he  had  spent  under  the  open  sky  with  his  three  friends 
and  the  wheelbarrow.  "Now  I'll  go  and  get  me  something  to  eat 
— it'll  be  dark  soon.    When  does  the  store  close?" 

"Six  o'clock  sharp." 

A  few  minutes  later  you  might  have  seen  a  lonely  boy,  ragged 
without,  but  happy  within,  sitting  down  on  a  lowly  bed  in  a  corner 
of  that  barn  loft,  greedily  devouring  some  crackers  and  cheese. 
But  presently,  had  you  stayed  there,  you  might  have  noticed  the 
noisy  chewing  die  away,  to  be  succeeded  by  the  heavy  regular 
breathing  of  a  tired  lad  fast  asleep. 

Meanwhile,  Mr.  Bernstein  was  pleased  as  a  boy.  For  that 
night  he  said  to  his  wife :  "Mary,  I've  discovered  a  man— and  I 
didn't  have  a  lantern,  either,  like  Diogenes.  He's  a  little  man.  to 
be  sure,  but  he'll  be  bigger  after  a  while." 


406  IMPROVEMENT   ERA 

Mrs.  Bernstein,  a  small  woman  of  refined  appearance,  looked 
at  her  husband  inquiringly.  And  he  told  her  of  the  episode  of 
the  brick. 

She  laughed.    That  was  one  of  his  humors. 
"Well,  anyway,  I  expect  a  good  deal  from  that  boy.     You 
always  laugh  at  my  tests  of  men's,  or  rather  boys'  mettle,  but  I 
tell  you  nowadays  there's  need  of  some  test  before  you  try  them 
with  responsibility.    Besides,  I  like  the  little  scamp! 

"Three  things  I've  learned  about  him  already:  First,  that 
he's  honest.  There's  no  reason  in  the  world  why  he  couldn't  have 
gone  off  with  that  half-dollar.  Second,  that  he'll  do  exactly  what 
you  tell  him  to  do.  Few  boys  can  do  it,  and  not  every  man.  And 
then,  he'll  do  what  you  tell  him  without  asking  a  thousand  ques- 
tions as  to  how  it's  done  and  why  it's  done.  Tomorrow  I'm  going 
to  put  him  on  the  meanest  work  about  the  store,  and  if  he  does 
that  as  I  think  he  will,  you  can  sit  back,  Mary,  and  watch  him 
grow  into  something." 

And  both  laughed  heartily. 

(To  be  continued) 

To  Teach  the  Young.  H.  J.  Sears,  M.  D.,  Chicago,  Illinois,  sends 
the  "Era"  a  clipping  from  the  "Medical  Council,"  Philadelphia.  Pa., 
for  May,  1911,  and  expresses  the  idea  that  it  is  worth  repeating  in 
the  "Improvement  Era."  The  article  follows.  Mr.  Miller  is  a  resident 
of  Chicago: 

Doctor  Bogam's  article  in  the  March  "Council,"  citing  the  dis- 
astrous results  of  not  instructing  a  young  girl  in  regard  to  her  men- 
struation, moves  me  to  write  of  a  family  in  which  the  opposite  plan 
has  been  followed.  Chance  has  made  me  acquainted  with  many 
members  of  the  "Mormon"  faith  in  Chicago,  and,  in  spite  of  all  the 
muckrakers  have  said  in  the  magazines  of  late,  I  am  glad  to  say  that 
the  "Mormons"  of  Chicago  would  be  a  welcome  addition  to  any  com- 
munity in  the  country — unless  that  community  be  too  blinded  by 
prejudice  or  too  vicious  to  desire  clean  home  life  in  its  midst. 

One  of  these  "Mormons,"  who  is  a  business  man  and  also  an  M.  D., 
has  a  son  just  attaining  his  majority  and  a  daughter  in  her  later 
'teens,  and  happier,  sweeter  and  more  loyal  children  it  would  be  rare 
to  meet.  The  boy  has  been  the  companion  of  his  father,  and  has  con- 
sulted his  father  on  everything  that  has  come  into  his  life.  He  has 
looked  to  his  father  as  the  proper  source  of  information  on  all  sorts 
of  questions,  including  the  sex  relation.  The  boy  understands  how 
he  is  made  and  for  what.  He  knows  the  meaning  of  the  impulses 
which  no  man  can  escape,  and  he  knows  the  danger  lines  and  the 
bounds  which  religion  and  law  set  against  the  sex  instinct.  I  know  the 
boy  well,  but  he  does  not  know  that  I  know  of  the  thoroughness  of 
his  preparation  to  meet  the  dangers  of  life.  He  is  a  boy  to  be  loved 
and  trusted. 

The  girl  has  been  likewise  instructed  by  her  mother,  and  the 
knowledge  has  not  made  her  abnormal  in  the  slightest  degree.  These 
parents  have  done  their  full  duty.  Would  that  their  example  could  be 
followed  in  all  of  our  homes.  E.  P.  S.  MILLER. 


From  Nauvoo  to  Salt  Lake  in  the  Van  of 
the  Pioneers. 


The  Original  Diary  of  Erastus  Snow. 


EDITED   BY  HIS   SON,  MORONI   SNOW 

XIII. 

Tn  the  last  number,  we  left  the  pioneers  encamped  on  a  creek 
emptying  into  the  Weber.     The  Journal  continues : 

July  20,  1847.  This  morning  some  of  the  sick  felt  unable 
to  ride  over  so  rough  a  road,  and  three  wagons  were  left  until 
the  president  and  the  rear  company  should  overtake  them.  We 
followed  up  Canyon  creek  eight  miles,  mostly  through  dense 
thickets.  After  crossing  the  creek,  and  often  stopping  to  repair 
roads,  cutting  away  brush,  etc.,  we  camped  where  Elder  Pratt's 
company  encamped  last  night,  at  the  base  of  the  mountains.  Here 
we  found  a  letter  left  by  Elder  Pratt  for  us,  on  the  perusal  of 
which,  Elders  Richards  and  Smith  determined  on  sending  me  in 
the  morning  with  a  letter  to  overtake  Elder  Pratt,  and  accompany 
him  to  the  valley  and  assist  in  exploring  and  searching  out  a 
suitable  place  for  putting  in  our  seed. 

2 1  st.  This  morning  I  started  on  horseback.  Leaving  Can- 
yon creek,  I  ascended  westward  five  miles  to  the  summit  of  a 
mountain  pass,  through  a  deep  and  narrow  ravine,  following  a 
dry  bed  of  a  rivulet  and  occasionally  finding  a  little  water  which, 
however,-  was  soon  lost  beneath  the  soil.  The  pass  over  the 
summit  was  narrow,  peaks  of  the  mountain  rising  on  each  side 
for  three-fourths  of  a  mile.  This  pass  is  the  only  notch  or  opening 
of  the  mountains  known  in  this  region  of  the  country  that  is  at 
all  practicable  for  a  road,  except  through  the  canyon  down  the 
bed  of  Weber  river,  which  is  very  rough,  and  passable  only  in 
the  lowest  stages  of  water,  and  scarcely  passable  for  wagons  up 
the  stream  at  any  stage.  From  the  summit  of  the  pass,  for  the 
first  time,  I  got  a  sight  of  the  valley  of  the  Utah  outlet,  extending 
from  the  Utah  to  the  Salt  Lake.  By  the  trail,  it  is  about  fifteen 
miles  from  the  summit  to  the  valley.    The  road  down  the  moun- 


408  IMPROVEMENT   ERA 

tain  on  the  west  side  is  very  steep,  and  through  a  well  timbered 
valley,  chiefly  of  rock  maple  and  quaking  asp.  A  creek  origi- 
nates in  the  valley  which,  by  the  time  it  opens  into  the  lake 
valley,  becomes  quite  an  extensive  stream.  I  followed  this  creek 
down  about  seven  miles,  and  overtook  Elder  Pratt  just  about 
where  it  enters  a  rocky  canyon.  Here  we  had  to  turn  to  the  right 
and  ascend  a  very  steep  hill,  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  long, 
and  descended  another  equally  steep  and  long  one  into  another 
ravine;  equally  well  timbered,  and  supplied  with  a  creek  somewhat 
similar  to  that  of  the  other  valley.  As  much  labor  was  necessary 
to  make  a  passable  road  through  the  thicket  and  down  the  valley, 
Elder  Pratt  and  myself  left  the  company  to  perform  this  task, 
and  made  our  way  down  the  valley  six  or  seven  miles,  and  came 
to  a  small  canyon  just  above  where  the  creek  opens  into  the  valley 
of  the  Utah  outlet.  To  avoid  the  canyon,  the  old  pack  trail 
crosses  the  creek  and  leads  up  an  exceedingly  steep  hill  on  to  a 
butte  that  commands  the  valley  and  view  of  the  Salt  lake.  From 
the  view  we  had  of  the  valley,  from  the  top  of  the  mountain,  we 
had  supposed  it  to  be  only  an  arm  of  prairie  extending  up  from 
the  Utah  valley,  but  on  ascending  this  butte  we  involuntarily, 
both  at  the  same  instant,  uttered  a  shout  of  joy  at  finding  it  to 
be  the  very  place  of  our  destination,  and  beheld  the  broad  bosom 
of  the  Salt  lake  spreading  itself  before  us.  We  descended  a 
gradual  slope,  some  four  miles  towards  the  center  of  the  valley, 
and  visited  several  small  creeks  flowing  from  the  mountains  into 
the  Utah  outlet,  traveled  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  in  the  valley, 
and  returned  to  the  company  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
finding  them  about  three  miles  from  where  we  left  them  at  noon, 
and  Elders  Richards  and  Smith,  with  their  companies,  camped 
half  a  mile  above  them. 

22nd.  This  morning  we  started  again,  with  seven  others,  to 
explore  the  valley  further.  The  company  united  their  efforts  to 
work  a  road  down  the  creek  and  make  their  way  into  the  valley, 
which  was  distant  only  about  four  miles.  As  we  rode  down,  this 
morning,  we  dismounted  and  examined  the  small  canyon,  and 
found  it  practicable  to  make  a  road  down  the  bed  of  the  creek, 
through  the  canyon,  and  thus  avoid  the  dangerous  and  almost 
impassable  hill  upon  the  other  side  of  the  precipice.  We  left  a 
note  upon  a  pole  recommending  it  to  the  company  who,  acting 
upon  our   suggestion,  made  the  road  through  the  canyon,  and 


IN   THE   VAN   OF  THE  PIONEERS  409 

before  sunset  found  themselves  camped  upon  a  creek  in  the  great 
valley,  four  miles  from  the  canyon.  Our  little  exploring  company 
took  down  the  valley  a  few  miles  towards  the  Salt  lake,  bearing 
a  little  west  of  north,  and  struck  a  salt  marsh  fed  by  numerous 
warm  springs  that  came  out  of  the  base  of  the  mountains  on  the 
east.  Cane  brake,  bull  rushes,  and  a  kind  of  large,  three-cornered 
grass  were  up  to  our  shoulders  on  horseback,  and  the  immense 
body  of  old  grass  and  rushes  formed  a  bridge  over  the  marsh 
over  which  our  animals  crossed  without  difficulty.  Passing  next 
a  dry  salt  plain,  which  is  evidently  covered  with  water  when  the 
springs  are  flush,  we  came  to  a  small  lake,  also  fed  by  warm 
springs,  which  evidently  spreads  over  the  plain  and  marsh  in  the 
spring  of  the  year.  The  largest  and  warmest  spring  we  found 
was  near  the  margin  of  this  lake.  It  bursts  from  the  base  of  a 
perpendicular  ledge  of  rock  about  forty  feet  high  and  emits  a 
volume  of  water  sufficient  for  a  mill.  We  had  no  instrument  to 
determine  the  degree  of  temperature,  but  suffice  it  to  say  that  it 
was  about  right  for  scalding  hogs.  Here  are  the  greatest  facilities 
for  a  steam  doctor  I  ever  saw.  A  stone,  in  the  center  of  the 
stream  before  the  aperture  in  the  rocks,  seemed  to  say,  this  is  the 
seat  for  the  patient.  At  any  rate,  I  tried  it,  but  had  little  desire 
to  remain  long  upon  it.  All  these  springs  are  very  strongly  im- 
pregnated with  salt  and  sulphur  and  some  of  them  with  copperas 
and  other  ingredients.  Finding  no  place  equal  to  that  east  of 
the  Utah  outlet,  we  returned  to  camp  that  night,  and  the  next 
day,  Friday  the  23rd,  we  moved  north  to  a  creek  about  four  miles, 
where  we  commenced  preparations  for  putting  in  seeds. 

Saturday,  24th.  The  president  and  all  the  rear  of  the  pioneer 
company  arrived,  their  health  much  improved.  By  tonight  we 
have  the  creek  dammed  up  and  water  turned  on  to  our  land,  and 
several  acres  of  potatoes  and  corn  planted. 

Sunday,  the  25th.  Had  an  excellent  meeting.  All  felt  satis- 
fied that  the  Lord  had  led  us  to  the  very  spot  for  a  stake  of  Zion. 
The  following  week  we  continued  to  put  in  early  corn,  buckwheat, 
and  garden  seeds,  and  on  the  following  Saturday  (the  31st), 
Colonel  Markham  reported  fifty-three  acres  plowed,  most  of  it 
sowed  or  planted,  besides  the  wooding  of  thirteen  plows  and  five 
harrows,  getting  timber  for  a  boat,  repairing  wagons,  burning 
coal,  blacksmithing,  making  roads  to  the  timber  in  the  mountain 
ravines,  exploring  the  valley,  etc.,  etc. 


410  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

Tuesday,  the  27th.  Some  sixteen  of  us,  including  the  Twelve, 
crossed  the  Utah  outlet,  which  runs  through  the  center  of  the 
valley,  passed  to  the  base  of  the  ridge  of  mountains  on  the  west, 
found  the  valley  to  be  about  twenty  miles  broad,  passed  round 
the  north  end  of  these  mountains  and  struck  the  southeast  corner 
of  the  Salt  lake,  twenty-two  miles  from  our  camp,  where  we 
halted  and  had  a  fine  bathing  frolic.  The  water  was  warm  and 
very  clear,  and  so  salt  that  no  fish  can  live  in  it.  The  waters  of 
the  ocean  bear  no  comparison  to  those  of  the  lake,  and  those  who 
could  not  swim  at  all  floated  upon  the  surface  like  a  cork,  and 
found  it  out  of  their  power  to  sink.  When  we  dressed  ourselves 
we  found  our  hair  and  skin  perfectly  coated  with  fine  salt.  We 
continued  our  march  around  the  point  of  the  mountain  to  another 
valley  between  this  and  the  next  parallel  range  of  mountains  on 
the  west,  which  also  extends  to  the  lake  on  the  north.  This  valley 
is  some  ten  miles  broad,  and  is  poorly  watered.  Returning  to  a 
spring  near  the  point  of  the  mountain,  we  camped  for  the  night. 

Wednesday,  28th.  We  went  up  the  valley  on  the  west  of 
the  outlet,  about  fifteen  miles  from  the  lake,  and  found  the  west 
side  of  the  valley  to  be  poorly  watered,  all  the  springs  now  dry, 
and  the  land  thirsty.  Returning  to  camp,  in  the  evening  we  held 
a  meeting,  and  unanimously  agreed  to  lay  out  a  city  for  our 
present  location  on  this  creek  in  latitude  40  degrees  and  46  min- 
utes, and  longitude  blank  degrees  and  blank  minutes,  barometric 
height  of  temple  block  above  the  level  of  the  sea  4,300  feet,  the 
temple  square  to  be  forty  rods  square,  all  the  streets  to  be  eight 
rods  wide  and  to  cross  at  right  angles  east,  west,  north  and  south ; 
squares  to  be  forty  rods  square,  and  contain  eight  lots  of  one  and 
one-fourth  acres  each,  exclusive  of  the  streets,  and  four  of  these 
squares  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  city  to  be  reserved  for  public 
grounds,  etc.  I  should  have  mentioned  that  Elder  Amasa  Lyman, 
and  a  few  others  from  the  soldiers,  arrived  yesterday  morning  in 
time  to  accompany  us  to  the  lake.  On  Thursday,  the  soldiers  and 
the  Mississippi  company  (numbering  conjointly  about  250  souls) 
arrived,  which  made  us  about  four  hundred  strong  in  the  valley. 

During  this  week  the  Ute  and  Shoshone  Indians  visited  our 
camp  in  small  parties,  almost  daily,  and  traded  some  horses  for 
guns  and  skins  for  clothing,  etc.  They  seemed  much  pleased  at 
our  settling  here.  While  here,  one  of  the  Utes  stole  a  horse  from 
the  Shoshones  and  was  pursued  up  the  valley  by  the  latter  and 


IN  THE  VAN  OF  THE  PIONEERS 


411 


killed,  and  his  comrade  and  their  horses  and  the  victors  returned 
to  our  camp  with  the  stolen  property. 

The  following  Sunday,  August  ist,  a  resolution  was  adopted 
in  camp  to  trade  no  more  with  the  Indians  except  at  their  own 
encampment,  and  hold  out  no  inducements  to  their  visiting  our 
camp.  The  planting  of  our  seeds  being  pretty  nearly  over,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  turnips,  it  was  unanimously  resolved,  in 
order  to  prepare  winter  quarters  for  those  that  are  to  tarry  and 
the  balance  of  our  brethren  who  are  expected  here,  to  go  jointly 
to  enclosing  one  of  the  public  squares  of  the  city  containing  ten 
acres,  or  forty  rods  square,  by  a  wall  of  log  and  adobe  houses, 
to  be  joined  together  with  the  exceptions  of  a  gate  on  each  of  the 
four  sides,  buildings  to  be  fourteen  feet  wide,  nine  feet  high  on 
the  outside,  roofs  to  slant  a  little  inward. 

(To  be  continued) 


r:vf  ft*  '^ 

*- 

*    1 

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«  . 

%     .*  f"       :*0&      Y.    | 

ELDERS  OF  THE  NEWCASTLE   CONFERENCE 
Top  rowfA.  G.  Brain,  Salt  Lake  Citx  Utah;  LL    Allen    Cove    Utah. 
Francis    Simpson,    Bedford,    Wyoming,    P     H     Service     Salt    Lake    CUj 
Utah;    W.    A.    Van    Orden.    Smithfield,   Utah.      Second    rou      F-    ^  DaMe. 
Logan,  Utah;  L.  M.  Haynie,  Manassa,  Colorado s   J    S.  Phelps  .MontPeier 
Idaho;  P.  Swainston,  Whitney,  Idaho;  W.K.  Lindsay,  ^  Grande^  ureg   n 

^mForBdelC^krPrceUv°nUtSh0GeJo.  ER  ^l^^^e^S  f" 
7eVeFnced'GarneridC  Utah Jos.  W.  Clark,  president  of  Newcastle  confer- 
ence,   Mesa    City,    Arizona;    Jno     Adamson     C     ey,    Hah    ,    J.    C.    G  Mj 

ass  afe.sss^f  $^z§^^^^  salt 

Lake  City,  Utah;   H.   W.   Roberts,   Ogden,  Utah. 


The  Cigarette. 


The  tobacco  dealers,  next  to  the  tobacco  press 
in  our  city  and  state,  cried  "blue  laws,"  and  objected 
vehemently  and  successfully  to  the  recent  effort  of  the 
City  Commissioners  and  Chief  of  Police  B.  F.  Grant  to  give 
the  young  people  immunity,  one  day  a  week,  from  the 
deadly  cigarette !  No  wonder !  It  is  a  big  business ! 
The  people  of  the  United  States  smoked  enough  three- 
inch-long  cigarettes,  during  191 1,  to  girdle  the  earth  nineteen 
times  if  laid  in  a  straight  line.  Ten  thousand  millions  were 
manufactured,  and  no  one  knows  how  many  billions  more  were 
made  by  cigarette  smokers  themselves.  This  is  an  average  for 
even-  man,  woman,  and  child  in  our  land  of  109  cigarettes,  80 
cigars,  13  small  cigars,  and  four  pounds  of  tobacco,  for  the  year. 
It  is  a  shame  to  interfere,  even  for  one  day,  with  this  enormous, 
death-dealing  trade ;  the  liberty  of  the  corner  cigar  stand  must 
not  be  interfered  with,  though  it  drag  as  many  boys  down  to  the 
hell  of  physical  and  mental  ruin  as  the  saloon,  or  start  ten  thou- 
sand more  than  the  public  dance  hall  on  the  road  to  vice. 

Our  illustrations,  used  some  years  ago  in  Success,  show  the 
gradual,  fatal  deterioration  in  a  bright  boy,  from  year  to  year, 
who  uses  cigarettes.  The  cigarette  smoker  should  have  a  portrait 
of  himself  taken  each  year,  and  the  physical  deterioration  shown 
each  time  should  startle  him  into  quitting  the  deadly  habit. 

"Ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  boys,  between  the  ages  of  ten  and 
seventeen  years,  who  come  to  me,  charged  with  crime,  have  their 
fingers  disfigured  by  yellow  cigarette  stains.  *  *  *  A  great  deal  of  this 
boyhood  crime  is,  in  my  mind,  easy  to  trace  to  the  deadly  cigarette. 
There  is  something  in  the  poison  of  the  cigarette  that  seems  to  get 
into  the  system  of  the  boy,  and  to  destroy  all  moral  fibre."— Magistrate 
Crane,  New  York  City. 


THE   ClGARETThi 


413 


"I  have  made  the  gruesome  discovery  that  two  of  the  largest 
cigarette  manufacturers  soak  their  produce  in  a  weak  solution  of 
opium,  *  *  *  and  when  it  is  announced  on  authority  that  most  cigar- 
ettes are  doped  with  opium,  the  connection  between  cigarettes  and 
crime  is  not  hard  to  understand.  Tobacco  is  the  boy's  easiest  and 
most  direct  road  to  whiskey.  When  opium  is  added,  the  young  man's 
chance  of  resisting  the  combined  forces,  and  escaping  physical,  mental, 
and  moral  harm,  is  slim  indeed." — New  York  City  magistrate,  quoted 
in  "Success,"  May,  1906. 

"Another  of  the  deadly  influences  of  cigarette  smoking  is  the 
gradual  killing  of  the  power  of  decision.  The  victim  begins  to 
vacillate,  to  waver,  and  to  ask  everybody's  advice.  He  cannot  make 
up  his  mind  about  anything.  He  loses  the  power  to  say  no." — Orison 
Swett  Marden. 

"I  consider  any  young  man  at  school,  in  college,  or  in  any  pro- 
fessional school,  as  seriously,  indeed,  almost  fatally  handicapped  by 
the  habit  of  smoking." — Andrew  D.  White. 

"Boys  who  smoke  cigarettes  are  like  wormy  apples.  They  drop 
long  before  the  harvest  time.  They  rarely  make  failure  in  after  life, 
because  they  do  not  have  any  after.  When  the  other  boys  are  taking 
hold  of  the  world's  work,  they  are  concerned  with  the  sexton  and  the 
undertaker." — David  Starr  Jordan. 

"Under  no  circumstances  will  I  hire  a  man  who  smokes  cigarettes. 
He  is  as  dangerous  on  the  front  of  a  motor  as  the  man  who  drinks.  In 
fact,  he  is  more  dangerous;  his  nerves  are  apt  to  give  way  at  any 
moment.  If  I  find  a  car  running  badly,  I  immediately  begin  to  investi- 
gate to  find  if  the  man  smokes  cigarettes.  Nine  times  out  of  ten,  he 
does,  and  then  he  goes  for  good." — Superintendent  of  the  Lindell 
Street  Railway,  St.  Louis,  Mo, 

The  cigarette  creates  a  longing'  which  it  cannot 
satisfy.  Cigarette  smoking  impairs  the  digestive 
organs.  It  causes  a  gradual  loss  of  appetite,  and 
the  wretched  victim  substitutes  more  cigarettes  for 
food.  He  finally  gets  to  a  point  where  he  becomes 
such  a  slave  to  the  cigarette  that  he  cannot  do 
without  it. 


Tribute  to  Mary  Freeze 


BY   SUSA  YOUNG  GATES 


[Mary  A.  Burnham  Freeze  was  born  in  Nauvoo,  111.,  October  12, 
1845.  She  came  to  Utah  in  1852,  arriving  in  Salt  Lake  City,  October  8. 
She  married  James  P.  Freeze,  and  was  the  true  and  loving  mother  of 
nine  children.  In  M.  I.  A.  work,  she  was  not  only  a  pioneer,  but  a 
faithful,  earnest  helper  to  the  last.  On  October  3,  1898,  she  became 
a  member  of  the  General  Board  Y.  L.  M.  I.  A.,  which  position  she 
magnified  to  the  day  of  her  death,  January  21,  1912. — Editors.] 

The  great  pleasure  of  an  intimate  friendship  with  Mary 
Freeze,  was  mine  from  early  girlhood.  She  was  always  a  simple, 
genuine,  humble  soul,  she  who  now  lies  before  us  under  this 
tribute  of  fragrant  flowers.  She  was,  above  all  things,  a  gentle, 
true,  faithful  woman. 

If  the  measure  of  a  woman's  place  in  history  is  to  be  that 
she  is  loved  and  served  by  many,  as  she  has  loved  and  served 
many,  then  indeed  is  Sister  Mary  Burnham  Freeze  a  great  woman. 
For  she  laid  the  foundations  of  her  character  in  sendee  to  man- 
kind, and  reared  the  superstructure  in  unseflish  devotion  to  truth. 
She  was  a  friend  to  be  loved,  a  wife  to  be  honored,  a  mother  to 
be  adored.  She  was  strong  in  the  vital  force  of  her  integrity, 
and  powerful  in  the  majestic  quality  of  her  fervid  testimony  of 
the  divine  mission  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the  courageous  Martyr 
and  Prophet,  Joseph  Smith.  She  loved  and  lived  faithfully  every 
revealed  principle  of  the  gospel.  Without  fulsome  adulation,  she 
was  born  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  her  Master,  and  worship  him  in  her 
daily  duties.  She  revered  the  priesthood  without  envy,  and  hon- 
ored those  who  honored  it.  She  was  glad  that  she  was  a  woman, 
and  by  her  loyalty  she  made  her  sex  honorable.  Without  loss  of 
womanly  dignity  and  modesty,  she  loved  her  own  sex,  and  re- 
joiced in  every  manifestation  of  their  development.  It  is  a  mourn- 
ful pleasure  to  recall  the  declaration  she  once  made  that  when  she 
died,  she  hoped  her  friends  would  ask  a  woman  to  speak  at  her 
funeral  services,  for  a  woman  would  understand  her.  In  that 
plaintive  declaration,  Mary  revealed  one  inner  source  of  her 
strength  and  power.  She  respected  and  reverenced  men  of  God, 
but  she  also  loved  and  clung  to  good  and  great  women.  She 
sought  her  friendships  among  the  gifted  and  noble  of  the  priest- 


TRIBUTE    TO    MARY   FREEZE  416 

hood,  as  well  as  among  her  own  sex.  She  was  the  beloved  pro- 
tege of  Eliza  R.  Snow,  of  Zina  D.  Young,  and  of  Elmina  S.  Tay- 
lor ;  yet  also  the  true  and  admired  friend  of  apostles  and  leaders 
of  the  present  day.  Her  associations  led  her  always  upward  from 
her  own  environments,  if  that  were  possible ;  the  frivolous  and  the 
flighty  knew  her  not.  One  would  not  expect  to  find  Mary  in  the 
circles  of  the  rich  and  haughty,  but  in  the  assemblies  of  the  Saints, 
and  in  the  cloisters  of  his  Holy  House,  Mary  walked  with  un- 
abated faith  and  charm. 

She  was  so  tender  in  her  appealing  sympathies  tliat  one  al- 
most feared  to  find  inherent  weakness  in  the  final  probe.  But  out 
of  the  womanly  softness  of  her  soul  arose  the  rich  power  of  faith, 
to  which  she  anchored  her  life. 

Mary  was  sincere.  No  empty  baubles  of  fame  or  worldly 
goods  ever  held  attraction  or  fascination  for  her.  How  she  es- 
caped superficiality  and  self-conceit,  in  a  world  where  personal 
vanity  and  personal  bombast  is  now  hidden  so  deftly  and  subtly, 
by  the  flimsy  rags  of  masquerading  loyalty  and  sentimental, 
friendly  devotion,  only  the  angel  of  her  presence  could  tell.  But, 
to  the  last,  she  was  her  own  chaste,  pure-minded,  serene,  unspoiled 
self — sweet,  plain,  Mary  Freeze. 

She  was  acquainted  with  grief,  and  walked  often  with  sorrow 
as  her  teacher  and  guide.  Pain  was  her  mentor,  and  suffering 
was  her  adviser.  Yet,  so  loyally  did  she  entertain  these  heavenly 
disciplinarians,  that  even  youth  ceased  its  laughter  to  listen  to 
her  wisdom ;  and  whimpering  infancy  curled  itself  to  sleep  on  her 
motherly  bosom,  as  love  and  peace  stole  out  from  her  tender 
embrace. 

Mary's  friends  chose  me  to  speak  these  few  words  over  her 
bier,  because  I  once  looked  through  her  eyes  on  the  Angel  of 
Death,  and  through  our  united  faith  and  the  blessings  of  the 
priesthood,  we  one  time  put  Death  quite  to  rout.  Ah,  that  dread 
portal  which  stands  so  often  ajar  between  the  world  of  things 
as  they  are,  and  the  world  of  things  as  they  will  be.  Poor  Mary's 
hands  were  weak  and  frail,  and  her  strength  was  spent  through 
trying  to  keep  that  portal  closed  between  Life  to  Come  and  Life 
Here.  She  asked  my  poor  help.  For,  out  of  the  struggle  which 
had  kept  my  own  feet  hovering  on  that  threshold  for  many  cruel 
nights  and  years,  she  hoped  that  I  had  garnered  some  shreds  of 
living  faith  which  she  might  cling  to.    Oh!  those  frail  hands  of 


416  IMPROVEMENT  ERA 

my  friend — and  O,  how  great  was  the  burden,  as  we  clasped  the 
rod  of  trusting  hope  in  God,  to  keep  that  portal  closed  for  Mary, 
yet  a  little  while.  We  dared  no  look  beyond — except  with  eyes  of 
faith — for  over  all  that  wide  expanse  beyond  the  gates,  there  hung 
the  deadly  pall  of  separation.  And  so  we  clung — close  to  each 
other  and  to  God.  And,  bye  and  bye,  the  great  gates  clanged 
shut  once  more,  and  Mary  lived  to  walk  the  ways  of  life  for  years. 
She  could  not  quite  forget — nor  I !  But  oftentimes,  of  late,  my 
ears  have  caught,  in  secret  meditations,  the  melodies  of  that  great 
unseen  Host  which  came  before  for  Mary,  but  whose  invitation 
we  would  not  listen  to,  as  we  pushed  the  gates  close  shut,  strength- 
ened by  our  faith  in  God,  and  the  priesthood's  power  to  keep  her 
yet  a  little  while. 

How  weak  we  are.  How  longingly  we  cling  to  life's  most 
bitter  scenes.  And  Oh !  how  good  our  Father  is  to  let  us  face 
this  life  with  such  brave,  longing  eyes.  But  if  Mary's  children, 
gathered  here,  could  see  their  lovely  angel  mother,  clad  in  her 
royal  robes,  her  shining  eyes,  her  matchless  beauty,  and  her  trans- 
cendent happiness — what  sobs  of  loving  praise  would  echo  through 
this  room  for  such  a  joy  as  theirs.  We  see  this  life  through 
darkened  glasses,  but  my  Mary  knows  how  glorious  are  the  sunlit 
spaces  of  those  heavenly  courts.  And  when  she  leaves  us  as  we 
lay  her  body  in  its  friendly  resting  place,  beneath  the  coming 
springtime  sego  lilies,  who  shall  say  that  Mary  is  not  ready  now 
to  walk  in  sweet  sincerity  within  the  sacred  courts  of  heavenly 
temples,  where  shining  spirits  learn  and  receive  those  sacred  keys 
and  powers  which  will  crown  their  whole  eternity  with  happiness 
and  peace  divine?  Nay,  more;  can  we  not  see  them  all  in  turn 
walk  tenderly  by  Mary's  side,  as  she  unfolds  to  them  in  simple 
phrase  the  limitless  span  of  God's  great  plan  to  redeem  a  fallen 
world  through  his  own  laws  and  gospel? 

When  Mary  leaves  us,  I  am  sure  she'll  still  wear  her  simple 
crown  of  saint-like  peace  and  loving  sympathy.  For  she  was 
indeed  that  greatest  gift  of  God  to  man — a  woman  greatly  loved, 
and  loving  greatly.  Gather  about  her,  husbands,  children,  wives, 
and  friends.  Your  tears  will  fall  upon  the  fertile  soil  of  that  rich 
field  which  sorrow  plows  through  the  human  heart,  with  fur- 
i  rows  where  seeds  of  truth  can  be  dropped,  to  bring  forth  harvests 
in  the  great  eternal  worlds  to  come!  Our  Mary's  life  has  made 
the  world  a  better  place  in  which  to  live. 


Editor's  Table 


Pre-existent  States. 


In  answer  to  numerous  inquiries  on  questions  treated  upon 
in  certain  class  exercises,  the  First  Presidency  of  the  Church 
present  the  following,  under  date  of  January  31,  1912: 

To  Whom  it  May  Concern:  The  First  Presidency  have  noth- 
ing to  advance  concerning  pre-existing  states,  but  that  which  is 
contained  in  the  revelations  to  the  Church.  The  written  standards 
of  scripture  show  that  all  people  who  come  to  this  earth  and  are 
born  in  mortality,  had  a  pre-existent,  spiritual  personality,  as  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  the  Eternal  Father.  (See  Pearl  of  Great 
Price,  Chap.  3,  verses  5-7.")  Jesus  Christ  was  the  first-born.  A 
spirit  born  of  God  is  an  immortal  being.  When  the  body  dies,  the 
spirit  does  not  die.  In  the  resurrected  state  the  body  will  be  im- 
mortal as  well  as  the  spirit.  Speculations  as  to  the  career  of 
Adam  before  he  came  to  the  earth  are  of  no  real  value.  We  learn 
by  revelation  that  he  was  Michael,  the  archangel,  and  that  he 
stands  at  the  head  of  his  posterity  on  earth.  (Doctrine  and  Cov- 
enants, Section  107:53-56.)  Dogmatic  assertions  do  not  take  the 
place  of  revelation,  and  we  should  be  satisfied  with  that  which  is 
accepted  as  doctrine,  and  not  discuss  matters  that,  after  all  dis- 
putes, are  merely  matters  of  theory. 

Your  brethren, 

(Signed)     Joseph  F.  Smith. 
Anthon  H.  Lund, 
Chas.  W.  Penrose. 
First  Presidency. 

Relating  to  the  identity  of  Adam,  it  might  be  further  stated 
that  the  Prophet  Joseph  Smith,  at  Far  Wrest,  about  1839.  gave 
some  information  upon  this  subject,  which  is  found  in  one  of  his 
sermons  (page  468,  Historical  Record).  From  this  we  learn  that 
Adam  is  Michael,  the  archangel,  spoken  of  in  the  scriptures.  He 
is  the  father  of  the  human  family,  and  presides  over  the  spirits 
of  all  men.  Jesus  Christ  stands  before  him,  and  there  is  given 
him  glory  and  dominion.     Adam,  delivers  up  his  stewardship  to 


418  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

Jesus,  the  Son  of  Man,  that  which  was  delivered  to  him  as  hold- 
ing the  keys  of  the  universe,  and  retains  his  standing  as  head  of 
the  human  family.  Jesus  is  the  mediator  of  the  new  covenant. 
He  is  the  great  High  Priest;  Adam  next. 

From  these  statements,  and  from  many  others  that  might  be 
quoted,  it  is  clear  that  Adam  and  Christ  are  two  persons — not  the 
same  person.  It  is  erroneous  doctrine  to  consider  them  one  and 
the  same  person,  for  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  a  member  of  the  Trinity, 
the  God-head,  and  to  whom  Adam,  the  father  of  the  human  family 
upon  this  earth,  is  amenable.  Adam  will  have  to  account  for  his 
stewardship  to  our  Lord  and  Savior,  Jesus  Christ,  whose  blood 
atones  for  the  sins  of  those  who  have  fallen  by  the  transgression 
of  Adam. 


Testimony  of  Jacob  Gates. 


My  father,  Jacob  Gates,  while  on  his  way  to  England,  in 
1849,  stopped  at  the  town  of  Richmond,  where  lived  at  that  time 
Oliver  Cowdery.  Hearing  that  Oliver  was  in  poor  health,  and 
wishing  to  renew  old  acquaintance,  as  they  had  been  friends  in 
earlier  days,  father  called  on  him  at  his  home.  Their  conversa- 
tion, during  the  visit  drifted  to  early  Church  history,  and  to  their 
mutual  experiences  during  the  troublous  times  in  Missouri  and 
Illinois.  Finally  father  put  this  question  to  him :  "Oliver,"  said 
he,  "I  want  you  to  tell  me  the  whole  truth  about  your  testimony 
concerning  the  Book  of  Mormon — the  testimony  sent  forth  to  the 
world  over  your  signature  and  found  in  the  front  of  that  book. 
Was  your  testimony  based  on  a  dream,  was  it  the  imagination  of 
your  mind,  was  it  an  illusion,  a  myth — tell  me  truthfully?" 

To  question  him  thus  seemed  to  touch  Oliver  very  deeply. 
He  answered  not  a  word,  but  arose  from  his  easy  chair,  went  to 
the  book  case,  took  down  a  Book  of  Mormon  of  the  first  edition, 
turned  to  the  testimony  of  the  Three  Witnesses,  and  read  in  the 
most  solemn  manner  the  words  to  which  he  had  subscribed  his 
name,  nearly  twenty  years  before.  Facing  my  father,  he  said : 
"Jacob,  I  want  you  to  remember  what  I  say  to  you.  I  am  a  dying 
man,  and  what  would,  it  profit  me  to  tell  you  a  lie?  I  know," 
said  he,  "that  this  Book  of  Mormon  was  translated  by  the  gift 
and  power  of  God.  My  eyes  saw,  my  ears  heard,  and  my  under- 
standing was  touched,  and  I  know  that  whereof  I  testified  is  true. 


EDITOR'S  TABLE  41* 

It  was  no  dream,  no  vain  imagination  of  the  mind — it  was  real." 

Then  father  asked  him  about  the  angel  under  whose  hands 
he  received  the  priesthood,  to  which  he  made  answer  thus :  "Jacob, 
I  felt  the  hand  of  the  angel  on  my  head  as  plainly  as  I  could  feel 
yours,  and  could  hear  his  voice  as  I  now  hear  yours." 

Then  father  asked  this  question:  "If  all  that  you  tell  me  is 
true,  why  did  you  leave  the  Church?"  Oliver  made  only  this 
explanation ;  said  he :  "When  I  left  the  Church,  I  felt  wicked,  I 
felt  like  shedding  blood,  but  I  have  got  all  over  that  now." 

State  of  Utah,  County  of  Salt  Lake,  ss.  Jacob  F.  Gates,  of 
Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  being  first  duly  sworn,  deposes  and  says, 
that  he  is  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  of  the  age  of  fifty-seven 
years,  and  that  he  is  the  son  of  Jacob  Gates,  who,  prior  to  his 
death,  related  to  affiant  a  conversation  which  he  had  with  Oliver 
Cowdery,  at  the  town  of  Richmond,  State  of  Missouri,  and  that 
the  above  and  foregoing  is  a  true  and  correct  statement  of  said 
conversation  as  given  to  him  by  his  father. 

Jacob  F.  Gates. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  30th  day  of  Janu- 
ary,  1912.  Arthur  Winters,  Notary  Public. 

My  commission  expires  December  3,  1915- 


Heaven  and  Hell. 


A  good  student  and  brother  has  written  to  know  where  Hell 
is,  and  he  asks : 

"Are  we  to  understand  (as  written  in  Matthew  25:41.  'De- 
part from  me,  ye  accursed,  into  everlasting  fire  prepared  for  the 
devil  and  his  angels')  that  such  a  place  as  Hell  really  exists?" 

Hell  is,  evidently,  wherever  one's  mental  condition  would 
make  it.  Without  doubt,  such  a  place  exists,  but  where  the  place 
is,  we  are  not  able  to  say,  as  there  is  no  revealed  word  upon  the 
subject.  In  this  life,  however,  both  Heaven  and  Hell  are  upon 
this  earth,  and  wherever,  by  our  acts,  we  ourselves  make  them. 
It  is  not  a  far-fetched  guess,  either,  to  say  that  Heaven  for  the 
righteous  will  be  on  this  earth  in  the  hereafter.  (Read  Doc.  and 
Cov.  88:17-26.) 

As  to  the  meaning  of  "everlasting  fire  prepared  for  the  devil 
and  his  angels,"  we  have  a  thorough  explanation  in  the  19th 
section  of  the  Doctrine  and  Covenants,  beginning  with  the  Toth 


420  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

verse  and  reading  to  the  12th.  From  this  we  understand  that 
everlasting,  or  eternal,  punishment  is  simply  God's  punishment, 
because  he  is  eternal.  The  punishment  will  abide  forever,  but  a 
man  will  not  suffer  it  forever;  and  each  individual  will  receive 
of  that  punishment  in  the  hereafter  as  he  deserves,  but  with  it  he 
will  also  receive  eternal  justice,  and  there  is  escape  by  re- 
pentance, before  the  resurrection  and  the  judgment,  even  as  there 
is  in  this  world. 

Furthermore,  we  understand  Hell,  as  stated,  to  be  both  a 
place  and  a  state  or  condition  of  torment,  in  which  the  wicked 
who  have  passed  away  from  this  life  will  suffer  suspense,  remorse, 
and  anguish  looking  for  the  indignation  of  a  just  God  before  their 
resurrection.  This  condition  will  continue  as  long  as  justice  shall 
demand  it,  and  until  the  sinner  shall  repent  and  turn  to  God  and 
obey  him ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  choose  to  obey  the  devil.  Their 
further  destiny  will  be  in  conformity  with  their  works  and  de- 
sires, according  to  the  eternal  principles  of  justice  and  mercy 
extended  by  an  allwise  God.  For,  if  men  desire  to  do  evil,  and 
follow  that  desire,  all  the  day  long  while  in  this  life,  they  shall 
have  their  reward  of  evil  when  the  night  cometh,  both  in  the  spirit 
world  and  after  the  resurrection ;  even  as  those  who  do  good,  shall 
inherit  the  Kingdom  of  God,  endless  life,  and  eternal  happiness. 

If,  after  the  resurrection,  men  still  remain  evil,  having  re- 
fused to  repent,  they  will  be  consigned  to  the  dominion  of  the 
devil,  who  has  subjected  them,  which  is  Hell  and  damnation. 
They  had  mercy  extended  to  them,  but  would  not  turn  from  their 
evil  ways ;  they  were  warned  of  their  iniquities,  but  would  not 
depart  from  them ;  they  were  commanded  to  repent,  but  would 
not.  They  chose  the  evil,  and  will,  therefore,  inherit  the  kingdom 
of  the  devil,  Hell,  or  endless  misery.  And  it  becomes  plain,  there- 
fore, that  men  are  their  own  judges,  they  stand  or  fall,  are  good 
or  evil,  as  they  desire  and  do  good  or  evil  in  their  hearts  and  acts 
— hence,  we  make  Heaven  or  Hell  for  ourselves,  not  only  here- 
after, but  now.  The  lesson  we  should  learn  is  that  the  way  of 
salvation  is  prepared  which  leads  to  Heaven,  and  we  may  walk 
therein,  and  be  saved.  To  do  this,  we  are  asked  to  repent  of  our 
sins,  render  loving  service  to  God  and  our  fellow  men,  and  obey 
the  gospel,  whose  author  is  Jesus  Christ,  the  light  and  life  of  the 
world      In  and  through  him  alone  are  men  redeemed  and  saved. 

In  this  connection  we  advise  the  reading  of  Alma,  chapters 


EDITOR'S   TABLE  421 

40  and  41,  and  Mosiah,  chapter  16,  where  the  doctrines  of  the 
Latter-day  Saints  on  this  subject  and  on  the  resurrection,  the 
restoration,  and  the  judgment,  are  set  forth  in  great  practical 
plainness,  applying  not  only  to  the  future,  but  to  our  lives  here 
and  now. 


Get  Busy. 


The  elder  who  wrote  this  message  is  a  son  of  President 
Joseph  F.  Smith.  He  sent  it  to  his  brother,  James,  and  in  his 
short  epistle,  dated  Hannover,  Germany,  January  12,  1912,  touches 
several  chords  of  human  interest: 

Dear  Brother  James:  I  received  your  letter  and  the  enclosed 
money,  all  right,  and  I  was  thankful  that  you  wrote. 

I've  got  your  dollar  in  my  pocket  immer  noch.  I  hate  to 
break  it.    Brother  Clive  and  Sister  Campbell  also  sent  one  apiece. 

Who  milks  the  cow  now? 

Don't  let  the  music  slip.  When  you  get  over  here,  and  have 
to  be  the  organist,  the  choir  leader,  and  the  soloist,  you  will  ap- 
preciate a  little  training.  It's  surprising  how  many  fellows  can't 
play,  but  would  like  to! 

Nearly  all  the  missionaries  I  have  worked  with  have  had 
opportunities  to  learn,  and  every  one  of  them  kicks  himself,  and 
would  give  a  finger  to  have  the  same  chance  again. 

Get  Royal  interested,  there's  nothing  like  starting  young. 

You  can't  imagine  how  fine  it  sounded  when  Clifford  Clive 
played  the  organ. 

It  makes  a  fellow  wish  he  could  do  so,  too,  and  the  only 
reason  he  can't  is  because  he  hasn't  enough  interest  to  work  like 
Clifford  Clive  does. 

There  is  no  royal  road  to  geometry,  and  no  royal  road  to 
music,  and  no  royal  road  to  anything  that's  worth  while.  We 
measure  the  value  of  things  by  the  work  we  put  into  them,  or 
to  get  them.  Nothing  is  worth  while  that  doesn't  cost  time,  blood, 
sweat,  intense  interest,  patience  and  fixed  purpose.  What  do  you 
want?  Is  it  hard  to  get?  Then  begin  to  work  now.  Tomorrow 
is  always  tomorrow,  but  make  haste  now  and  do  it  well. 

Your  brother, 

Calvin  S.  Smtth. 


422  IMPROVEMENT   ERA 

Inspiring  Hymns. 


I  enjoyed  reading  the  many  good  things  said  of  Eliza  R. 
Snow,  on  the  Sunday  evening  of  January  21,  1912,  when  the 
Genealogical  Society  of  Utah  celebrated  the  birthday  of  this  sweet 
poetess  of  Zion.  I  noted,  too,  with  particular  pleasure,  the  kindly 
references  made,  on  this  occasion,  to  Sister  Emily  Hill  Wood- 
mansee,  her  life  and  writings.  Believing  that  a  letter  of  sympathy, 
which  I  wrote  to  a  friend  of  hers  after  her  death,  would  be  of 
interest  to  many  of  the  readers  of  the  Era  who  love  her  hymns, 
I  am  pleased  to  present  it  here : 

"Our  hymn  book  is  full  and  running  over  with  words  of 
comfort  and  blessing,  but  no  other  hymn  has  given  me  such  com- 
fort as  has  Sister  Emily  Hill  Woodmansee's,  'Providence  is  over 
all.'  It  may  be  that  my  having  known  her  all  my  life,  and  of  her 
sufferings  and  trials,  has  endeared  her  hymns  to  my  heart.  I 
know  that  her  life  was  lived  in  full  and  complete  accord  with  the 
splendid  teachings  of  her  beautiful  hymns.  I  am  wonderfully 
partial  to  the  teachings  and  writings  of  those  whose  lives  I  know 
to  be  in  full  accord  with  their  own  words.  Where  they  do  not 
harmonize,  I  am  free  to  confess  that  the  teachings  fall  on  deaf 
ears,  in  my  case.  Sister  Woodmansee  was  one  of  the  truly  heroic 
souls  whom  the  gospel  found  and  bound  to  the  Church,  with 
bands  of  love  as  strong  as  steel.  The  gospel  found  her  in  Eng- 
land. She  came  to  Zion  part  of  the  way  with  the  handcart  com- 
pany, and  suffered  the  hardships  incident  to  that  trip,  which  are 
far  beyond  the  power  of  pen  to  paint.  She  married  one  of  the 
gifted  men  of  the  Church  who,  like  herself,  was  able  to  write 
songs  which  inspired  and  comforted  the  people.  I  will  quote  a 
verse  from  one  of  her  husband's  hymns  (page  29)  : 

Arise,  O  glorious  Zion, 

Thou  joy  of  latter  days, 
Whom  countless  Saints  rely  on, 

To  gain  a  resting  place; 
Arise  and  shine  in  splendor, 

Amid  the  world's  deep  night, 
For  God,  thy  sure  defender, 

Is  now  thy  life  and  light. 

"This  man's  life  was  not  like  hers,  in  full  accord  with  his 
writings,  and  she  had  the  sorrow  of  seeing  her  husband  and  the 


EDITOR'S   TABLE  423 

father  of  her  children  cut  off  from  the  Church. 

"She  later  married  a  wealthy  man  who  afterwards  became 
very  poor,  and  she  suffered  deep  poverty.  She  might  have  suf- 
fered more  had  it  not  been  for  an  impression  which  came  to  me 
that  she  was  in  great  need  of  assistance,  and  following  this  im- 
pression, I  called  on  her  and  had  the  pleasure  of  giving  her  some 
aid  in  her  trouble. 

"During  her  whole  life,  she  lived  in  perfect  accord  with  the 
teachings  of  her  beautiful  hymns,  and  was  an  heroic,  faithful  soul, 
always  trusting  in  God  no  matter  how  dark  and  drear  her  skies 
appeared.    I  quote  the  poem,  'Providence  Is  Over  All'  " : 

When  dark  and  drear  the  skies  appear, 

And  doubt  and  dread  would  thee  enthrall, 
Look  up  nor  fear,  the  day  is  near, 

And  Providence  is  over  all. 
From  heav'n  above,  His  light  and  love 

God  giveth  freely  when  we  call; 
Our  utmost  need  is  oft  decreed, 

And  Providence  is  over  all. 

With  jeaous  zeal  God  guards  our  weal, 

And  lifts  our  wayward  thoughts  above; 
When  storms  assail  life's  bark  so  frail, 

We  seek  the  haven  of  His  love. 
And  when  our  eyes  transcend  the  skies, 

His  gracious  purpose  is  complete, 
No  more  the  night  distracts  our  sight — 

The  clouds  are  all  beneath  our  feet. 

The  direst  woe  that  mortals  know, 

Can  ne'er  the  honest  heart  appall, 
Who  holds  the  trust— that  God  is  just, 

And  Providence  is  over  all. 
Should  foes  increase  to  mar  our  peace, 

Frustrated  all  their  plans  shall  fall. 
Our  utmost  need  is  oft  decreed, 

And  Providence  is  over  all. 

I  believe  that  one  of  the  favorite  hymns  of  President  Joseph 
F.  Smith  is  written  by  Sister  Woodmansee.  It  is  entitled, 
"Uphold  the  right,  though  fierce  the  fight."  (Hymn  Book,  p.  434 )  : 

Uphold  the  right,  though  fierce  the  fight, 

And  powerful  the  foe, 
And  freedom's  friend,  her  cause  defend, 

Nor  fear  nor  favor  show. 


424  IMPROVEMENT   ERA 

No  coward  can  be  called  a  man — 

No  friend  will  friends  betray; 
Wbo  will  be  free,  alert  must  be; 

Indiff'rence  will  not  pay. 

Note  how  they  toil  whose  aim  is  spoil, 

Who  plundering  plots   devise; 
Yet  time  will  teach  that  fools  o'erreach 

The  mark  and  lose  the  prize. 
Can  justice  deign  to  wrong  maintain, 

Whoever  wills  it  so? 
Can  honor  mate  with  treach'rous   hate? 

Can  figs  on  thistles  grow? 

Dare  to  be  true,  and  hopeful,  too; 

Be  watchful,  brave  and  shrewd; 
Weigh  every  act;  be  wise,  in  fact, 

To  serve  the  general  good. 
Nor  basely  yield,  nor  quit  the  field — 

Important  is  the  fray; 
Scorn  to  recede,  there  is  no  need 

To  give  our  rights  away. 

i 
Left-handed  fraud  let  those  applaud 

Who  would  by  fraud  prevail; 
In  freedoms'  name,  contest  their  claim, 

Use  no  such  word  as  fail; 
Honor  we  must  each  sacred  trust, 

And  rightful  zeal  display; 
Our  part  fulfil,  then  come  what  will, 

High  heaven  will  clear  the  way. 

Heber  J.  Grant. 


Messages  from  the  Missions 

Elder  Vernon  J.   Clark,  writing  from  South  Bend,  Indiana,  says 
the  three  elders  in  that  place  have  succeeded  in  organizing  a  Sunday 

school.  Many  parents  are  letting  their 
children  come  to  the  school,  and  are  so 
well  pleased  with  the  way  the  children  are 
taught  the  principles  of  the  gospel  that 
they  accompany  them,  and  learn  more  of 
the  gospel  as  taught  by  the  Latter-day 
Saints.  The  cottage  meetings  are  well 
attended  and  there  is  keen  interest. 
Elders,  left  to  right:  H.  C.  Young,  Fruit- 
land,  New  Mexico;  Vernon  J.  Clark, 
Georgetown,  Idaho;    Leslie   Warburton,  Tooele,  Utah. 


MESSAGES  FROM  THE  MISSIONS 


425 


Elder  Wells  Cloward,  writing  from  Mount  Vernon,  Illinois,  Jan- 
uary 16,  stated  that  the  Hill  branch  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
of  Latter-day  Saints  has  done  much  to  further  the  truth  among  the 
people  of  that  section.  The  meeting  house  was  dedicated  in  1907. 
When  the  building  was  first  erected  the  people  were  much  against 
the  work,  but  since  they  have  had  the  privilege  of  studying  the  faith 
of  the  Latter-day  Saints  and  living  among  them,  they  have  become 
mucn  softened.  At  the  Christmas,  1911,  entertainment,  people  for 
miles  around  joined  with  the  Saints  in  the  celebration  of  the  birth  of 
our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ.  Those  present  expressed  them- 
selves that  the  entertainment  was  the  best  they  had  ever  attended. 
One  man  who  was  called  upon  to  speak  said  he  had  been  very  much 
benefited  by  attending,  and  he  knew  the  entertainment  would  help 
all  present  to  live  better  lives  in  the  future.  He  hoped  he  would  be 
able  to  attend  many  more  such  gatherings.  The  elders  at  Mount 
Vernon,  111.,  are:  Wells  Cloward,  J.  N.  Scovil,  E.  H.  Asay  and  Charles 
T.  Johnson. 

Elder  Grant  Ivins,  writing  to  the  "Era"  from  Tokyo,  Japan,  says: 
"There  are  fifteen  of  your  friends  in  Japan  who  watch  for  the  "Era," 
and  read  it  with  pleasure;  and  the  only  reason  that  sixteen  of  us  do 
not  enjoy  its  contents  is  that  Chiyo  doesn't  read  very  well  yet,  but 
she  is  'coming,'  and  though  we  fear  from  indications  that  the  Japanese 
will  hinder  her  progress  in  our  mother  tongue,  we  shall  endeavor  to 
see  that  she  is  taught  somewhat  in  the  learning  of  her  father,  which 
consists  partly  of  good  old  English,  and  a  knowledge  of  what  is  pub- 
lished in  'your,'  perhaps  better  'our,'  magazine.  We  are  working 
earnestly,  with  perhaps  more  hope  than  success;  but  we  feel  unable 
to  rightly  judge  the  good  which  we  are  doing.     We  know  one  thing. 


however,   which   gives   us   much   satisfaction— we   know   that   we   are 
carrying,  the  first  new  a  of  the  teachings  of  our  Savior  to  many  of 


426 


IMPROVEMENT  ERA 


Japan's  people.  Though  we  have  not  the  opportunity  of  seeing  the 
enlightened  Christian  accept  the  knowledge  of  the  restored  gospel,  we 
enjoy  the  chance  which  we  do  have  of  watching  the  effect  of  true  re- 
ligious light  in  its  operation  on  the  hitherto  darkened  mind.  We  are 
doing  our  best  to  spread  that  light,  and  feel  in  a  way  satisfied  with 
our  labors  here.  The  missionaries  in  the  group  are:  Left  to  right, 
back  row:  James  M.  Miller,  Murray;  Lloyd  O.  Ivie,  Salina;  Lester  T. 
Chipman  and  Leonard  E.  Harrington,  American  Fork;  Alvin  B.  Hintze, 
Murray;  Henry  R.  Emmett,  Ogden;  Grant  Ivins,  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah; 
E.  LeRoy  Anderson,  Salem,  Idaho;  front  row:  William  S.  Ellis,  North 
Ogden;  Joseph  H.  Stimpson,  Riverdale;  James  Scowcroft,  Ogden; 
Elbert  D.  Thomas,  mission  president,  Edna  H.  Thomas,  Salt  Lake 
City,  Utah;  Chiyo  Thomas,  Tokyo,  Japan;  Jay  C.  Jensen,  mission 
secretary,  Heber  City;   Walter  H.  Barton,  Kaysville,  Utah. 

Elder  Shirley  Penrose  Jones,  writing  from  Hull,  England,  Decem- 
ber 19,  gives  an  account  of  a  celebration  of  Thanksgiving  day,  Novem- 
ber 31:  "Although  away  from  home,  and  in  a  country  where  this  day 
is  not  regarded,  we  enjoyed  a  real  Thanksgiving  spirit,  possibly 
cultivated  by  an  excellent  dinner,  including  roast  turkey,  plum  pudding 
and  sweet  corn.  This  latter  dish  was  quite  a  delicacy,  since  it  was 
the  first  any  of  us  had  eaten  in  England.  On  Saturday  we  met  in 
priesthood  meeting,  at  which  a  departure  was  made  from  the  usuai 
mode  of  procedure,  and  the  question,  'Resolved,  That  we  are  worship- 


m 

• 

M\ 

-J....L  .*- 

^E9 

\4              SL\.. 

■A    V  ". 

j    a 

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^ 

i 

■»■■■, 

i        V 

^f. 

7 

ping  on  the  correct  day,'  was  debated,  with  two  elders  on  each  side 
and  the  remainder  of  the  class  as  critics  and  judges.  Very  interesting 
and  valuable  points  were  brought  out,  and  we  all  felt  better  for  coming 
together.  Elders,  left  to  right,  top  row:  Charles  A.  Walters,  Eureka, 
Utah;  John  F.  Olesen,  Hooper,  Utah;  Alvin  J.  Sharp,  Preston,  Idaho; 
second  row:  T.  Roy  Bell,  Richmond;  William  T.  Patrick,  Salt  Lake 
City;  Joseph  F.  Holyoke,  Parowan,  Utah;  Homer  J.  Brown,  Cardston, 
Canada;  Douglas  T.  Murdock,  Heber  City;  William  H.  White,  Jr„  Salt 


MESSAGES   FROM   THE  MISSIONS 


427 


Lake  City;  bottom  row:  Edward  Williams,  Spanish  Fork:  Shirley  P. 
Jones,  conference  secretary,  Salt  Lake  City;  Conference  President 
Bernard  Parry,  Manti,  Utah;  Elmer  W.  Smith,  Thatcher,  Idaho;  Hyrum 
B.  Harris  Henefer,  Utah. 

Elder  Rex  I.  Spencer,  of  the  Missouri  conference,  Central  States 
mission,  writes  that  the  elders  in  his  district  have  been  laboring  in 
the  city  of  Cape  Girardeau,  in  Missouri.     The  circuit  judge  permitted 

them  to  use  the  court  house  to  hold  a 
meeting  in,  and  while  he  was  severely 
criticized,  he  stated  to  the  elders  that  he 
was  not  at  all  sorry  that  he  let  them  use 
the  house,  as  he  made  no  distinction  be- 
tween religious  sects,  which  shows  a 
liberal  mind;  and  also  that  as  Latter-day 
Saints  we  are  able  to  meet  and  make 
favorable  impression  upon  a  good  class  of 
people.  "Just  prior  to  coming  to  this 
town,  we  worked  in  a  place  where,  for 
five  weeks,  we  never  bought  a  meal  nor 
a  bed,  but  were  amply  provided.  In  one 
month,  we  held  twenty-eight  hall  meetings 
and  seventeen  cottage  meetings,  and  this  was  in  a  town  where,  two 
years  ago,  I  could  hardly  find  a  place  to  stop,  which  shows  a  marked 
change  for  the  better."  Elders  in  the  picture  are:  Homer  Taylor, 
Richfield;   Rex  I.  Spencer,  Salt  Lake  county,  Utah. 

Writing  from  Newport,  England,  January  20,  Elder  J.  H.  Vaughan 
reports  that  missionary  work  is  progressing  nicely  in  that  district, 
notwithstanding  the  misrepresentation  of  the  Latter-day  Saints  in  some 
of  the  papers  and  particularly  by  the  picture  shows  which  are  being 
exhibited,  detrimental  to  the  people.     These  are  causing  the  fairest 

minded  and  most  thoughtful,  however,  to 
investigate  as  never  before.  "In  tracting, 
yesterday,  I  had  a  conversation  with  a 
fine  looking,  middle  aged  man,  at  whose 
house  I  called  with  a  tract.  He  invited 
me  in,  saying  that  he  desired  to  talk  per- 
sonally with  a  'Mormon,'  and  to  learn  for 
himself  something  about  them.  He  is  an 
English  lawyer,  born  and  reared  in  New- 
port. Asking  me  about  the  object  I  had 
in  visiting  here,  I  told  him  that  it  was  to 
preach  the  restored  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
When  he  stated  that  the  gospel  had  been 
on  earth  ever  since  Christ  was  here,  I  begged  to  differ  with  him,  and 
thus  had  the  privilege  to  relate  to  him  the  vision  of  Joseph,  concern- 
ing the  restoration  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  and  the  priesthood  and 
authority  granted  to  the  Latter-day  Saints  through  the  visitation  of 


428 


IMPROVEMENT   ERA 


angels  to  the  Prophet  Joseph  Smith.  Parting  with  him,  he  expressed 
a  desire  to  have  more  of  our  literature,  and  wished  me  success  in  my 
labors."  The  elders  in  the  portrait  are:  Left  to  right:  J.  W.  Madsen, 
Provo,  Utah;  J.  H.  Vaughan,  Calders  Station,  Salt  Lake  City;  A.  L. 
Flitton,  Shelton,  Idaho. 

Elder  Ezra  J.   Poulson,  Richmond,  Virginia,   states   that  cottage 


meetings  are  being  held 


at  the  homes  of  the  Church  members,  at 
which  many  new  friends  and  investigators 
are  generally  in  attendance.  The  elders 
find  that  a  great  deal  of  prejudice  has 
been  removed  through  the  recent  visit  of 
the  Tabernacle  choir.  This  is  a  new  field, 
but  prospects  are  bright  for  a  thriving 
branch.  The  elders  in  the  picture  are: 
Front:  Ezra  J.  Poulson,  Paris,  Idaho; 
back,  left  to  right:  Reuben  A.  Parnsworth, 
Dublan,  Mexico;  John  L.  Ferris,  Junction; 
Oscar   Whiting,    Mapleton,   Utah. 


Elder  Elmer  Jackson,  writing  from  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  January 

26,  states  that  the  people  in  the  St.  Joseph  branch  of  the  Independence 

conference  are  treating  the  elders 
in  a  friendly  way.  Quite  a  num- 
ber of  the  people  are  very  much 
interested  in  the  gospel  message, 
and  the  meetings  are  well  at- 
tended by  friends  and  Saints. 
The  St.  Joseph  branch  has  a 
membership  of  about  forty,  and 
is  in  a  thriving  condition.  The 
elders  and  lady  missionaries  in 
the  photograph  are:  Left  to 
right:  T.  F.  Riggs,  Mesa,  Arizona; 

Henry   Miller,   Thayne,   Wyoming;    Elmer   Jackson,   Randolph,   Utah. 

Back  row:  Miss  Pearl  Critchfield,  Oakley,  Idaho;   Dagmar  Mauritsen, 

Logan,  Utah. 


Olaf  J.  Anderson,  president  of  the  Copenhagen  conference,  writes 
under  date  of  January  2:  "The  missionaries  of  the  Copenhagen  con- 
ference of  whom  there  are  thirty-two,  are  doing  a  good  work  among 
the  people.  During  the  past  holidays  they  were  invited  out  to  many 
socials  among  the  Saints  and  friends.  On  December  26,  the  Sunday 
school  pupils  and  their  friends  enjoyed  a  Christmas-tree  party,  all 
being  served  with  chocolate  and  cake  and  a  sack  of  nuts.  On  Friday, 
29th,  the  choir  gave  a  concert,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  first  of 
January  a  leap-year  party  was  given,  in  which  many  of  the  Saints 
and  their  friends  participated." 


Priesthood  Quorums'  Table 


How  to  Take  Up  a  Lesson — Part  III. — In  this  lesson  we  will 
continue  the  subject vof  what  constitutes  a  good  teacher. 

While  it  is  imperative  that  a  teacher  have  a  fund  of  information, 
it  must  not  be  thought  that  he  is  simply  to  stand  before  the  class  to 
give  out  his  information  to  his  hearers.  The  knowledge  of  the 
teacher  is  only  obtained  through  hard  work,  that  is,  by  a  great  deal 
of  careful  reading  combined  with  good,  hard  thinking.  Therefore,  the 
knowledge  of  the  teacher  cannot  be  given  to  those  whom  he  teaches, 
for  ail  must  obtain  knowledge  in  the  same  way.  The  intelligence  of 
the  teacher  can  only  be  used,  after  all,  as  a  sort  of  directive  force 
for  those  whom  he  teaches.  A  good  teacher  gets  his  class  to  think- 
ing and  studying,  by  questioning  them,  and  after  all  he  is  only  the 
director,  and  imparts  to  his  hearers  an  enthusiasm  which  will  in- 
spire them  to  mental  effort.  The  teachers  of  the  various  Quorums 
should  by  no  means  do  ail  the  talking  before  a  class,  but  the  talk- 
ing should  be  done  by  the  members.  This  is  a  point  that  many  of 
our  class  teachers  fail  to  realize  and,  as  a  result,  in  many  of  the 
classes  using  the  Year  Book  teachers  take  up  the  entire  time  in 
expounding  a  lesson  and  the  members  are  required  to  do  but  little 
work.  In  fact,  they  only  sit  and  listen  with  very  little  mental  effort. 
It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  all  have  the  same  privilege,  to  think 
and  to  express  their  thoughts,  which  should  of  course,  be  encouraged 
in  every  way.  The  class  teachers  should  simply  question  the  class 
and  direct  their  statements,  so  that  they  may  be  properly  correlated 
with  the  main  thought  of  the  subject  under  discussion.  We  say,  then, 
to  the  class  teachers,  "Do  everything  you  can  to  get  the  members 
to  talking  on  the  lesson  that  has  been  assigned  the  week  before." 
This  will  encourage  all  the  brethren  and  make  them  feel  that  their 
contributions  to  the  lesson  are  important.  It  is  these  contributions 
of  thought  from  all  that  constitute  a  good  lesson.— Levi  Edgar  Young. 


It  is  reported  that  the  Swedish  government  has  appropriated  some 
thirty  thousand  kroner  to  be  spent  in  enlightening  the  general  public 
of  that  nation  on  the  "Mormon"  question.  It  would  be  too  much  to 
expect,  of  course,  that  this  amount  be  given  to  the  "Mormon"  mis- 
sionaries now  laboring  in  that  kingdom.  But  really,  they  are  more 
competent  than  any  one  else  can  be  to  give  true  light  on  the  question, 
and  are  now  doing  all  they  can  on  the  subject  free,  and  without  purse 
or  scrip.  Their  doctrines  put  into  daily  practice  will  make  the  people 
better.  There  need  be  no  fear  that  those  who  join  the  Latter-day 
Saints,  and  live  according  to  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  taught  in  its 
purity  by  them,  will  be  anything  but  clean  in  their  lives,  noble  in 
their  demeanor,  and  loyal  citizens  and  neighbors.  The  purpose  of 
the  tens  of  thousands  of  students  in  these  priesthood  quorums  is  to 
learn  to  live  the  righteous  principles  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 


Passing  Events 


New  Mexico  was  admitted  to  the  Union  on  January  6,  1912,  Presi- 
dent Taft  signing  the  admission  proclamation  on  that  date,  and  on 
the  8th  of  the  month  George  Curry,  Republican,  and  IT.  B.  Ferguson, 
Democrat,  the  first  congressmen  from  the  new  state,  took  the  oath 
of  office  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

The  Turks  and  Italians  are  still  at  war  in  Tripoli.  On  January  7, 
an  armed  yacht  and  seven  Turkish  gunboats,  for  transporting  troops 
from  Arabia  to  reinforce  the  Turkish  army  in  Tripoli,  were  destroyed 
by  Italian  warships  in  the  Red  Sea.  The  Egyptian  government  has 
refused  the  transmission  of  Turkish  troops  through  Egypt  to  Tripoli. 

China  Became  a  Republic  on  Lincoln's  birthday,  1912.  The  Man- 
chu  dynasty  abdicated,  after  a/i  absolute  rule  of  three  hundred  years, 
accepted  the  republic,  and  agreed  to  the  conditions.  A  day  or  two 
later  Yuan  Shi  Kai  became  the  new  president  chosen  by  the  Assem- 
bly, and  Doctor  Sun  Yat-Sen,  the  provisional  president,  agreed  to 
arrangements. 

Arizona  Became  a  State  of  the  Union  on  Wednesday,  Feb.  14, 
1912.  President  Wm.  H.  Taft  signed  the  statehood  bill  on  that  day  at 
10  a.  m.  President  Lincoln,  on  Feb.  24,  1863,  signed  the  proclamation 
creating  Arizona  a  territory,  and  it  was  expected  the  state  would  be 
admitted  on  his  birthday,  but  the  act  was  delayed  owing  to  the 
President's  absence  from  Washington  until  the  14th,  which  date,  in 
1862,  is  the  day  Jefferson  Davis  proclaimed  the  territory  a  member 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  fifty  years  ago.    Utah  congratulates. 

Rev.  John  Grier  Hibben,  LL.  D.,  was  elected,  January  12,  to  suc- 
ceed Dr.  Woodrow  Wilson  as  president  of  Princeton  Universtiy.  Rev. 
Hibben  was  born  in  Peoria,  Illinois,  in  1861,  and  was  ordained  a 
Presbyterian  minister  in  1887.  He  became  professor  of  logic  and 
psychology  at  Princeton,  in  1903,  and  is  the  author  of  a  number  of 
books  on  logic  and  philosophy.  In  the  meantime,  Dr.  Woodrow  Wilson 
is  laying  his  lines  for  the  Democratic  nomination  to  the  office  of 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  making  some  headway,  notwith- 
standing his  unfortunate  disagreement  with  Colonel  Harvey,  of 
"Harper's  Weekly,"  and  Colonel  Watterson,  of  the  Louisville  "Courier- 
Journal." 

Cuba  and  intervention  by  the  United  States  were  again  brought 
to  the  front,  January  16,  when  the  President  of  the  United  States 
served  notice  on  the  President  of  Cuba  that  the  United  States  "looks 
to  the  government  of  Cuba  to  prevent  a  threatened  situation  which 
would  compel  the  government  of  the  United  States  *  *  *  *  *  to 
consider  what  measure  it  must  take  in  pursuance  of  the  obligations 
of  its  relations  to  Cuba."  The  threatened  troubles  are  those  that 
would  follow  the  participation  of  the  military  in  the  approaching 
presidential  election  .  The  Cuban  government  and  people  took  imme- 
diate notice,  and  the  law  forbidding  the  army  and  its  officers  from 
taking  part  in  politics  will  not  be  repealed. 


PASSING  EVENTS  481 

A  potato  growing  contest  has  been  inaugurated  by  the  National 
Copper  Bank  and  an  invitation  is  made  to  potato  growers  compete 
for  a  potato  trophy,  and  a  cash  prize  of  $100,  offered  by  the  bank  for 
the  purpose  of  rousing  among  the  boys  of  the  state  a  keener  interest 
in  scientific  farming.  The  cash  prize  is  given  outright  to  the  winner, 
but  the  cup  is  obtained  only  by  the  boy  who  wins  it  three  times  in 
succession.  All  boys  under  eighteen,  on  the  31st  of  December  in  the 
year  in  which  the  contest  is  conducted,  are  eligible  for  entry,  free. 
The  contestant  must  prepare,  plant,  cultivate  and  harvest  the  po- 
tatoes, and  must  grow  at  least  one  acre.  Further  information  will 
gladly  be  furnished  by  Lewis  F.  Boyle,  Director  Potato  Growing  Con- 
test, care  of  National  Copper  Bank,  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah.  The  con- 
testant may  grow  potatoes  on  land  anywhere  in  his  county,  whether 
owned,  loaned,  or  rented. 

The  situation  in  Persia  came  to  a  crisis  in  December,  when  the 
Persian  government  submitted  to  the  Russian  demand  for  the  dismissal 
of  W.  Morgan  Shuster,  the  American  Treasurer-General,  who  was  plac- 
ing Persia  on  an  independent  financial  footing,  and  freeing  her  from  the 
money  thraldom  of  Russia.  This  did  not  please  the  Russian  government, 
which  therefore  made  a  demand  upon  the  Persian  government  to  dis- 
miss him.  The  right  of  Russia  to  so  dominate  northern  Persia  is  ad- 
mitted by  Great  Britain,  which  liberal  government  thus  becomes  a  party 
to  Persia's  thraldom,  by  supporting  the  Russian  claims.  The  Russian 
boundaries  are  also  being  extended  in  central  and  eastern  Asia,  by 
means  of  the  Chinese  revolution.  Mongolia  has  declared  its  indepen- 
dence of  the  Pekin  government,  and  late  in  December  all  the  Chinese 
officials  were  expelled  from  its  chief  city.  This  gave  Russian  troops 
on  the  frontier  an  excuse  to  enter  the  country,  and  all  arrangements 
were  made  at  the  same  time  to  strengthen  the  Russian  position  In 
Chinese  Turkistan.  Under  the  present  conditions  China  is  powerless 
to  resist  Russian  aggression,  and  if  Turkistan  and  Mongolia  should  be- 
come subject  to  the  Czar,  nearly  two  million  square  miles  will  be  added 
to  the  dominion  of  his  tyrant  monarchy. 

Mr.  Charles  Henry  Woodard,  Soutn  Royalton,  Vermont,  died  Jan- 
uary 15,  1912,  at  the  age  of  59.  He  succeeded  his  father,  who  died 
many  years  ago,  as  the  proprietor  of  the  old  Woodard  hotel,  after- 
wards known  as  the  South  Royalton  House.  He  is  remembered  by 
the  people  of  Utah,  and  his  memory  respected,  because  of  his  courtesy 
and  kindness  extended  to  the  representatives  of  the  Church  during 
the  erection  of  the  Joseph  Smith  monument  at  his  birthplace,  and 
especially  upon  the  occasion  of  its  dedication.  He  did  everything 
possible  to  make  the  visit  of  the  people  pleasant  and  enjoyable.  The 
reception  and  religious  services  were  held  in  the  upper  hall  of  the 
hotel,  largely  attended  by  the  people  of  Royalton  and  Sharon.  De- 
licious meals  were  served  to  those  who  were  present,  and  mainly 
through  his  care  and  interest,  perfect  arrangements  were  made  for 
the  transportation  ot  fhe  large  company  from  the  village  to  the  site 


432  IMPROVEMENT    ERA 

of  the  monument,  three  and  a  half  miles  distant.  From  that  time  until 
his  death,  Mr.  Woodard  was  a  consistent  and  obliging  friend  of  all 
"Mormons"  who  visited  the  neighborhood  and  called  upon  him  for  any 
service  whatever.  He  was  a  genial,  agreeable  gentleman.  His  wife 
died  several  years  ago,  and  his  only  son,  Borodel,  survives  him. 

New  Wards  and  Changes  in  Bishops,  Etc.,  for  the  Month  of  Jan- 
uary, 1912,  as  reported  by  the  Presiding  Bishops'  Office: 

New  Wards.  Salina  ward  of  the  Sevier  stake  disorganized. 
Salina  First  ward  organized,  with  Kelcey  Walter  Bird,  bishop,  and 
Hans  J.  Gottfredson,  ward  clerk;  also  Salina  Second  ward  with 
Godfred  Lorentzen,  bishop,  and  James  M.  Jorgensen,  ward  clerk.  Both 
wards  are  in  the  Sevier  stake. 

President.  C.  Alvin  Orme,  Tooele  stake,  with  Charles  R.  McBride, 
first,  and  Alonzo  J.   Stookey,  second  counselor. 

Bishops.  Thomas  A.  Beal,  Ephraim  North,  South  Sanpete  stake, 
to  succeed  John  S.  Beal;  Archibald  Oldroyd,  Jr.,  Lyman  ward,  Wayne 
stake,  to  succeed  George  A.  Chappell;  Owen  M.  Sanderson,  Ogden 
Sixth  ward,  Ogden  stake,  to  succeed  Henry  W.  Gwilliam;  Ephraim 
Dastrup,  Loa  ward,  Wayne  stake,  to  succeed  Jacob  S.  Bastian. 

Ward  Clerks.  Ralph  E.  Lucas,  Pima  ward,  St.  Joseph  stake,  to 
succeed  Clarence  D.  Davis;  David  Johnson,  Provo  Sixth  ward,  Utah 
stake,  to  succeed  Jesse  McCullough;  Alma  V.  Reese,  Benson  ward, 
Cache  stake,  to  succeed  M.  J.  Ballard;  Christian  M.  Mickelsen,  Red- 
mond ward,  Sevier  stake,  to  succeed  James  Christensen;  Mahonri 
Thomson,  Ephraim  North,  South  Sanpete  stake,  to  succeed  James 
Orrin  Anderson;  Daniel  H.  Sidgwick,  Downey  ward,  Pocatello  stake, 
to  succeed  Mark  L.  Johnson;  Lewis  W.  Freer,  Twin  Groves  ward, 
Yellowstone  stake,  to  succeed  Charles  Caldwell;  William  O.  Tyler, 
Bryce  ward,  St.  Joseph  stake,  to  succeed  Bentley  Sessions;  Arthur  F. 
Law,  Soda  Springs  ward,  Bannock  stake,  to  succeed  Thomas  H.  Hors- 
ley;  Richard  E.  Egan,  Byron  ward,  Big  Horn  stake,  to  succeed  Charles 
Jensen;  Frank  Staheli,  Washington  ward,  St.  George  stake,  to  succeed 
Andrew  Sproul. 

Michigan  Divorces  Are  Crying  Evils.  From  a  recent  eastern 
paper,  published  at  Detroit,  Michigan,  we  learn  that  Reverend  Charles 
W.  Williams,  Episcopal  Bishop  of  Michigan,  created  a  sensation  at 
the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Detroit  Pastors'  Reunion,  January  10, 
when  he  declared  that  consecutive  polygamy  in  Detroit  was  worse 
than  contemporaneous  polygamy  in  Utah.  He  went  on  to  say:  "The 
'Mormon'  may  have  several  domestic  establishments,  but  he  never 
tries  to  evade  responsibility  for  the  support  of  all  of  them.  Our  con- 
secutive polygamists,  here  in  Detroit,  get  married,  have  children,  and 
get  tired  of  their  wives;  then  they  proceed  to  calmly  shuffle  off  all 
responsibility  for  the  support  of  their  family,  if  the  court  will  let 
them,  and  hasten  to  get  married  again.  The  cause  of  divorce  lies 
deep  in  the  hedonistic  temper  of  American  civilization.  Too  many  of 
our  people  think  of  life  as  a  sort  of  picnic  experience.  Their  favorite 
saying  is  'Get  all  you  can  of  fun  as  you  go.'     Their  existence  prac- 


PASSING  EVENTS  433 

tically  lies  between  peaches  and  pills,  then  these  butterflies  drift  into 
an  attachment  founded  on  lust,  for  convenience,  and  without  thought 
go  into  the  marriage  relation.  They  are  in  it  simply  for  a  good  time, 
with  no  thought  of  the  principle  involved — the  institution  of  a  home 
or  family  or  the  stability  of  civilization.  We  ministers  perhaps  un- 
consciously foster  this  pleasure-loving  class.  In  our  sermons  of  late, 
we  have  put  too  much  emphasis  on  happiness  and  too  little  on  stern 
righteousness  and  responsibility.  I  would  like  to  see  the  old  practice 
of  crying  the  bann  revived,  and  ministers  refuse  to  marry  parties 
they  did  not  know  unless  accompanied  by  competent  witnesses,  who 
could  vouch  for  their  fitess  to  enter  the  marriage  state.  I  would  like 
also  to  have  you  marry  only  the  innocent  party  to  a  divorce,  granted 
on  the  one  statutory  ground." 


Franklin  J.  Fullmer,  now  presiding  over  the  Tahitian  mission  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints,  was  born  in  Salt  Lake  City, 
in  the  old  Sixth  ward,  March  25, 
1882.  He  is  the  grandson  of  the 
late  David  Fullmer,  for  many  years 
connected  with  the  presidency  of 
the  old  Salt  Lake  Stake  of  Zion, 
and  is  the  son  of  David  Fullmer 
and  Caroline  Linnell  Fullmer.  He 
was  called  to  take  his  first  mission 
to  Tahiti,  in  May,  1904,  leaving  the 
same  month  and  continuing  his 
missionary  labors  in  that  land  for 
three  and  a  half  years.  He  was 
called  on  the  3rd  of  August,  1911, 
to  return,  to  preside  over  the  Tahi- 
tian  mission  and,  with  his  wife, 
Maud  Hodgson  Fullmer,  left  Salt 
Lake  City  for  Tahiti  on  September 
7,  1911.  Elder  Fullmer  is  a  faith- 
ful worker  in  the  Church,  and  has 
held  all  the  offices  in  the  Priest- 
hood, from  deacon  to  high  priest. 
Besides  his  labors  in  the  organizations  of  the  Priesthood,  he  has  been 
identified,  all  his  days,  with  Sunday  school  and  Mutual  Improvement 
work.  He  received  a  fair  education  in  the  Salt  Lake  High  School, 
the  Latter-day  Saints  University,  and  the  Latter-day  Saints  Business 
College.  He  is  by  occupation  an  architectural  draftsman,  "except," 
as  he  humorously  remarks,  "when  absent  doing  missionary  work." 
He  has  resided  a  number  of  years  in  Forest  Dale  ward,  in  the  Granite 
stake  of  Zion,  and  is  a  young  man  highly  respected  and  well  fitted 
for  the  responsible  position  that  he  is  now  filling. 

Martin  Cristopherson,  of  Farmers  ward,  Granite  stake,  has  been 
called  to  preside  over  the  Scandinavian  mission,  to  release  President 


Franklin.  J.  Fullmeri 


434 


IMPROVEMENT   ERA 


Andrew  Jenson,  and  will  leave  for  Copenhagen  in  early  March  to 
fulfil  the  labors  of  this  responsible  calling.  Elder  Cristopherson  is 
a  native  of  Christiania,  Norway,  where  he  was  born  April  13,  1850. 
At  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  joined  the  Church,  and  soon  after,  during 
the  intervals  when  not  engaged  in  his  daily  work,  was  called  to  dis- 
tribute tracts,  and  invite  the  people  to 
the  meetings.  At  the  age  of  seven- 
teen, having  learned  the  florist's  trade, 
he  was  employed  as  assistant  gardener 
at  the  king's  palace,  at  Christiania.  He 
was  called  to  leave  this  position  in  the 
spring  of  1870,  and  to  devote  his  entire 
time  to  missionary  work,  under  the  di- 
rection of  C.  D.  Fjeldsted,  then  presi- 
dent of  the  Christiania  conference,  who 
asked  him  to  take  charge  of  the 
Fredrikstad  branch,  where  he  labored 
fifteen  months,  adding  fifty  members 
to  the  Church.  At  this  place  he  was 
imprisoned  for  baptising.  Being  re- 
leased, in  the  summer  of  1871,  he  emi- 
grated to  Utah,  where  he  arrived  in 
October  of  that  year.  He  was  imme- 
diately employed  as  private  gardener 
by  D.  F.  Walker,  for  whom  he  labored 
tor  twelve  years.  In  1883,  he  was 
called  by  President  John  Taylor  to 
take  a  mission  to  Scandinavia,  where  he  labored  in  the  Christiania 
conference  for  twenty-five  months,  presiding  over  the  conferece  dur- 
ing the  greater  part  of  that  time.  He  was  the  counselor  to  A.  W. 
Winberg  for  ten  years,  presiding  over  the  Scandinavian  meetings  of 
the  Salt  Lake  stake,  and  later  served  as  counselor  to  President  J. 
M.  Sjodahl.  At  the  organization  of  the  Granite  stake  of  Zion,  he  was 
selected  as  one  of  the  high  counselors  of  that  stake,  which  position 
he  now  holds.  Three  of  his  sons  have  performed  missions  in  Norway. 
Soon  after  returning  from  his  last  mission,  Mr.  Christopherson 
organized  the  Salt  Lake  Nursery  company,  which  is  carrying  on  an 
extensive  business,  sending  out  hundreds  of  thousands  of  trees  every 
year.  In  his  business  ne  has  laid  out  some  of  the  most  extensive 
public  parks  in  Utah,  among  them  those  of  the  City  and  County 
building,  the  Capitol  grounds,  the  University,  the  Reform  school  in 
Ogden,  the  Manti  Temple,  and  many  private  grounds  in  Salt  Lake 
City.  He  held  the  office  of  county  commissioner  between  1894  and 
1896,  in  Salt  Lake  county,  and  acted  for  many  years  as  trustee  of 
schools  in  Salt  Lake  City  and  county.  He  is  greatly  interested  in 
mission  work,  and  has  done  much  good  work  among  the  Scandinavians 
in  Salt  Lake  county.  His  experience,  faith,  and  ability,  especially  fit 
him  for  the  successful  performace  of  the  work  to  which  he  has  now 
been  called. 


MAKTIN  CHRI6TOPHERSON 


REMINGTON  AUTOLOADING  RIFLE. 
ONE   OF  BROWNINGS  PATENTS 


HAVE  IT   REPAIRED 


WHILE  THE  OLD  GUN 
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WE  CARRY  EXTRAS  FOR  ALL  STANDARD  MAKES  OF  THE  ARMS. 

AND  OUR  REPAIR  SHOP 

IS  THE  LARGEST  AND  BEST  EQUIPPED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
SEND  FOE  ESTIMATES   ON  ANY  REPAIR  WORK.      150  PAGE   CATALOG  FREE 

BROWNING  BROS.  CO.,  OGDEN,  UTAH. 


WE    PAY    6% 

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Commercial  Savings  Benefit  Co. 

201  Constitution  Building.  Salt  Lake  City.  Utah 
D.  J.  WILLIAMS.  Manager 


Rates 
Tickets 
Litera- 
ture 
Ask  any 
Agent 

ori 
Write 

J.  H. 

Mander- 
field, 

A.G.P.A, 

Salt 

|  Lake  f 

City 


California 

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RESORTS 

Fishing,  Bath* 
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Yach  ting  — 
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Jill  reached 
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Four  trains  daily'over  one  of 
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This  assures 

TRAVEL  COMFORT 
TRAVEL  SAFETY 


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Three   Weeks  of 

Koffe-et 


will  cure  you  of  the  coffee  habit.  It  will  do 
more  than  that.  It  will  strengthen  your  nerves 
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Your  Grocer  sells  it. 


25c  a  Package. 


MADK  BY 


College  Pure  Food  Co.,  Logan,  Utah 


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Western 
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»» 


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